Reviews for Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Programming (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)

1. Great general introduction - not so much programming!

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, October 12th, 2009

   I really like this book. It contains some material on pretty much all parts of SQL Server, aimed at the programmer rather than the DBA. It doesn't contain much introductory material (if you want to know what a join is a when you might use one, this isn't the book for you) but, that said, I'm a SQL Server newbie and I got along fine with it and didn't find much of it beyond my grasp.
   
   My sole gripe is that its name is slightly misleading. If you want to know how to write C#/VB programs to access SQL Server via ADO.Net or Linq, this isn't the book for you: there's very little (none?) on that subject in here.
   
   So, a firm recommendation, but make sure that it's the right book for you before buying.

2. Good general overview with some minor weaknesses

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, August 12th, 2009

   I'm a professional software engineer and have been working with MS SQL Server for 12 years now and other DBMS for 15 years. I bought this book to catch up with the 2008 version of the product and for reference.
   
   My overall impression of this book is good. It covers all relevant aspects of MS SQL Server at a depth suitable for programmers and part-time DBAs, for example. The writing style does also reflect practical experience on projects with the product, which results in a balanced consideration of pros and cons of features from a practitioner's point of view blended with sufficient theory to help understanding and evaluation of design alternatives.
   
   I have few criticisms of this book and they relate to specialist subjects mainly. The chapters on full-text search and replication, for example, do in my view not reflect practical experience (at least it isn't reported or obvious, and in particular there is no comparison with alternative concepts or other products). This is not serious, however, as these are very special subjects with whole books devoted to them in their own right. However, I have quite a bit of professional experience in both areas and when I read these two chapters I thought that they didn't highlight the really important practical problems, but rather regurgitate Microsoft's documentation in an abstract way. But clearly this is not a problem, unless a reader focuses on these two very special subject areas.

3. Another great SQL publication by Robert Vieira

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, August 12rd, 2009

   I have been using Professional SQL books by Robert Vieira since 2000. He always delivery the goods in an easy to follow format with good real world examples. This publication covers all the relevant topics and introduces a few extra.
   
   Great book