SQL Server 2005 T-SQL Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach

Professional SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (Programmer to Programmer)

Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005: T-SQL Querying (Solid Quality Learning)

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services 2005

Pro SQL Server 2005

Databases

Programming SQL Server 2005

Format: Paperback
Author: Bill Hamilton
ReleaseDate: 01 March, 2006
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Rating:

Learning SQL Server 2005
When it says '2005', this books MEANS 2005. 'Programming SQL Server 2005' by Bill Hamilton is a nice book, but the title is a bit misleading (in a sense). For a book that says "Programming" in the title, I would expect a thorough examination of discussing the old AND new of SQL Server, but this text decides to focus on the new gadgets and abilities that the 2005 generation provides, without focussing specifically on the existing programming features/abilities.

At nearly 600 pages this book sounds like it's a good amount of material, but for any book that says programming and with a topic so diverse, I would expect more.

If you are looking to find out more about what SQL Server 2005 provides, create some applications that talk to your database server using the Visual Studio 2005 suite and get up to speed, this is a nice resource, but I cannot give it 5 stars as it just doesn't jump off the page for me like I would have hoped.

**** RECOMMENDED.

Very Informative and Easy to Read
It covers the expected topics, such as T-SQL Enhancements, HTTP Endpoints (Web Services), CLR Integration, and the XML data type. This book is an easy-to-read tutorial on many of the new features of SQL Server 2005. I was pleased to discover, however, that it also does a good job of explaining the often left-out features such as SQL Server Management Objects (SMO), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), and Analysis Services. (There are three chapters on SMO alone!) There is even a chapter on using SMO to program the SQL Server Agent service. That's an extra that I haven't seen before.

One of the things that I really liked about this book was the writing style. Reading it didn't feel like a chore. I wound up reading a bit of it each night after work, in order to relax. This is fairly unusual for me, as I typically get more than enough exposure to SQL during the day.

I was quite pleased with this book. I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer, and have been teaching classes on SQL Server 2005 for over a year. Therefore, I've seen numerous books and classes on SQL 2005. In my mind, this book stands out from the pack.

Must-have book!
Numerous code samples are included that can be downloaded from the O'Reilly web site. This book provides a clear, concise walkthrough about programming all aspects of SQL Server 2005. The book contains excellent coverage of programming CLR routines, XML support, native Web services support, and SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) (which replaces DMO). I also found the sections about topics such as Notification Services, replication, Reporting Services, and Integration Services helpful. These topics are new to me and I now both understand them and have been able to program solutions.

As a previous reviewer correctly mentioned, this book only covers new T-SQL features. I actually prefer this since I already know T-SQL (and there are already a lot of good T-SQL books available). The coverage of new T-SQL features is complete and the examples are good.

This book includes an appendix that explains the new features of ADO. NET 2. 0. The writing and examples are clear and helped me understand the changes and enhancements. It's great that the author chose to include this since programming ADO. NET 2. 0 is related to programming SQL Server 2005 but not the same thing at all.

Finally, I really like that this book does not simply recycle MSDN content, but rather complements it. There is enough reference material in the book to support the discussion and examples. After reading the book, you'll know enough about programming SQL Server 2005 to quickly find any reference material that you need in MSDN.
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