Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express in 24 Hours [With CDROM]

by Alison Balter

Covering the basics of Microsoft's latest version of the SQL server, this book looks at all the fundamental tasks necessary for the administration of SQL Server 2005. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0672327414
• ISBN13: 9780672327414
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Sams
• Length: 436 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.4" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Very good book for beginners

To learn a topic I usually read the Dummies version and then try it. Well, in this case, Dummies was just not right for me. I briefly tried Apress and Wrox but, as usual, they were too intense. I especially don't like their small print. Sam's is usually my last choice. In this case it was my best choice. The book covered SQL Server Express in a logical, easy-to-understand way. All the information you need to use SQL Express is in the book. The author was thorough but not overly technical. I enjoyed the book. I supplemented the book by using my Apress book as a technical resource.

Well-rounded introductory book

The book is well organized. The depth and breadth in the book is appropriate for beginning DBAs, developers, and students. It covers installation, basic database concepts, T-SQL, management, security, and ADO.NET programming using VB.NET and C#. It is amazing that the author managed to cover so much material in a relatively thin book without skipping important topics. This is a very good introductory book. I will give the book 4 stars. One common problem of the step-by-step books is that you will get lost and do not know how to get to the next step. You are asked to click an icon but the book does not show you the shape of the icon, neither an arrow pointing the icon. What you can do is hover the mouse pointer around the icons slowly and look for pop-up messages to locate it. Most of the time, you should be able to figure out the minor missing links. When you are stuck, you can look up 'SQL Server Books Online.' You can also find more advanced topics and techniques there. The version of SQL server 2005 Express in the CD that comes with the book is old. You should download and install the following from Microsoft 1. Current version of SQL server 2005 Express SP2. 2. SQL Server 2005 Books Online. 3. NorthWind sample database(instructions can be found in Appendix A) To download the source code, 1. Go to samspublishing.com 2. Look for 'Book Support & Downloads' under 'Quick Links.' 3. Enter the ISBN to find the book. 4. Click 'Source Code' link beneath 'More Information' portion.

Great Hands-on Introductory Book

I wanted a book that taught me how to use SQL Server Express so that I could use the free version of Microsoft's database for small projects. I did get that, and I also got hands-on training that gave concise information about SQL Server 2005 in general. The major topics were all covered, including database concepts, how to create and administer a database, the SQL statements to access it, and Stored Procedures. The point of this book is to present just enough material so that you have an overall understanding of SQL Server 2005 Express and how to code and administer it. It provides small exercises that allow you to test out and "own" the material as you move along. It gets you up-to-speed. Then after reading this book, a person can pick up other books such as "Murach's SQL Server 2005 for developers" in order to get more detail about these topics. It really helped me to get jump-started on both SQL Server 2005 Express and SQL Server 2005. The CD that came with the book contains SQL Server Managment Studio Express, which is Microsoft's free tool to administer the database, and Visual [...] Express. I installed them on the machine at the customer site, and it was all that I needed to get the project completed. This book is what you need when you want to get a basic understanding of SQL Server 2005 and learn enough to do productive work with it.

Excellent Reference Book from experience IT person

I was not going to write a review- this is my first. I have read Ms Balter's SQL Server 2005 Exp & can say I found many fine examples of fundamental SQL action queries to triggers, T-SQL coding, database security to writing VB.NET and ADO for creating stored procedures. I have read other books - Murach's Introduction to VB.NET and Murach's SQL for SQL SERVER etc. This book is worth the price of those others. In my opinion and experience it is a good "fundamental and introductory" SQL 2005 book. The 1 problem I had was finding the T-SQL and VB.NET source code.