Rating: 
Summary: This book will bring you to a good intermediate level
Review: A very good general book on SQL Server 2000. The book itself is divided into four parts (1- platform, 2- Administration, 3- Programming and development, 4- Analysis) and covers all the basics (and a bit more) of the above subjects. It is very usefull general information on SQL Server 2000. If you are limited to one book to cover it all, you should consider this book. It will bring you to the intermediate level of everything (from administration, analysis, TSQL development...) I found some very usefull tidbits in the transact-SQL programming part... That alone made it very wortwhile reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Recommended!
Review: I am a software developer of over 30 years. While I am new to SQL server, I have been doing DBMS developement for over 15 years.I gave up on this book by page 55. I found the style plodding with only marginally helpful analogies. But the real problem was a series of muddled, misleading and downright inaccurate statements and references. There are too many to list them all here, but a few examples: Muddled on p 50: "You can create additional indexes for a table, targeted at certain columns. Multiple indexes require more resources, however, so you need to be conservative and limit new indexes to columns you know are frequently searched on. In other words, no two rows can have identical values for the index key." What does the third statement have to do with the first two? Inaccurate on page 48, figure 2-7 shows two tables, but the caption refers to three tables and using A, B and C for names/labels which do not appear in the figure: "The primary key in Table A links the row to the rows in Tables B and C, which bear the foreign keys. All three rows combine to form a unique record. If you delete one of the rows, you actually break the record and wreck the integrity of your data." The last statement is at best misleading, at worst inaccurate. In discussing Constraints (NOT NULL) on p 52: "As discussed earlier, NULL means that the record is deemed to be unknown or missing." Actually, the value of a column for the row is unknown or missing, not the whole record. I cannot rely on the information I learn from a book that contains such problems and cannot recommend it to friends.
Rating:
Summary: Not Recommended!
Review: I am a software developer of over 30 years. While I am new to SQL server, I have been doing DBMS developement for over 15 years. I gave up on this book by page 55. I found the style plodding with only marginally helpful analogies. But the real problem was a series of muddled, misleading and downright inaccurate statements and references. There are too many to list them all here, but a few examples: Muddled on p 50: "You can create additional indexes for a table, targeted at certain columns. Multiple indexes require more resources, however, so you need to be conservative and limit new indexes to columns you know are frequently searched on. In other words, no two rows can have identical values for the index key." What does the third statement have to do with the first two? Inaccurate on page 48, figure 2-7 shows two tables, but the caption refers to three tables and using A, B and C for names/labels which do not appear in the figure: "The primary key in Table A links the row to the rows in Tables B and C, which bear the foreign keys. All three rows combine to form a unique record. If you delete one of the rows, you actually break the record and wreck the integrity of your data." The last statement is at best misleading, at worst inaccurate. In discussing Constraints (NOT NULL) on p 52: "As discussed earlier, NULL means that the record is deemed to be unknown or missing." Actually, the value of a column for the row is unknown or missing, not the whole record. I cannot rely on the information I learn from a book that contains such problems and cannot recommend it to friends.
Rating: 
Summary: ISAPI?
Review: I am writing this in respone to the 1 star review, particularly the XML and ISAPI comments. Chapter 23 covers ALL of the XML functionality in SQL2K. This is not a book on ASP development, that is why there is a SQL2k Web Applications Developer Guide, one by Osborne which is excellent written by Craig Utley, but probably 100 other ASP programmers guides. ASP has absolutely nothing to do with SQL Server. You can make a career writing ASP and never touch a SQL2K database. This book is for the beginner or experienced DBA who needs to get up to speed on SQL2K and what it does. The chapter on XML has a fully functional demo app that uses ASP, XML and VBScript and a SQL2K database. I would reccomend this book to anyone that want to learn all of the ins and outs of SQl2K, and wants a good understanding of the XML support in SQL2K. There are tons of samples and code in this book, and i think that is what makes it so good, and a very good read. But in the end, it is a SQL2000 Complete Reference, so that is the main concentration. A must have for any serious DBA!
Rating:
Summary: ISAPI?
Review: I am writing this in respone to the 1 star review, particularly the XML and ISAPI comments. Chapter 23 covers ALL of the XML functionality in SQL2K. This is not a book on ASP development, that is why there is a SQL2k Web Applications Developer Guide, one by Osborne which is excellent written by Craig Utley, but probably 100 other ASP programmers guides. ASP has absolutely nothing to do with SQL Server. You can make a career writing ASP and never touch a SQL2K database. This book is for the beginner or experienced DBA who needs to get up to speed on SQL2K and what it does. The chapter on XML has a fully functional demo app that uses ASP, XML and VBScript and a SQL2K database. I would reccomend this book to anyone that want to learn all of the ins and outs of SQl2K, and wants a good understanding of the XML support in SQL2K. There are tons of samples and code in this book, and i think that is what makes it so good, and a very good read. But in the end, it is a SQL2000 Complete Reference, so that is the main concentration. A must have for any serious DBA!
Rating:
Summary: High-altitude pass through the clouds.
Review: I read this book cover to cover and was greatly disappointed. The author's writing style leaves much to be desired. He covers a wide variety of topics. Unfortunately perhaps too many as he only gives the most superficial treatment of each. Not a compete reference. He also uses a huge number of annoying analogies. Sometimes two on one page. There are several minor errors throughout the book and the supporting web site doesn't exist. Buy a different book.
Rating: 
Summary: Not There.
Review: Less chest-thumping and many more real world examples would have made this a better book. "SQL Server 2000 The Complete Reference" is over 900 pages and packed with lots of ink, but it lacks relevance and many times left me confused because of its hollow attitude. Here, for example, the author goes off on a tangent, telling us about a workplace incident where he apparently sees himself standing up for what's right: "Once I was handed the keys to a critical server, and a few days after I took over the system, a number of alterations had been made to several databases." We're not told the specifics but apparently these were not good alterations: "After that, I changed access permissions and locked down the databases." And then there's a showdown: "I was confronted by the development team and their head honcho... Trust me I have been down this road a few times." Sounds like every other watery post on every other Internet forum -- a vague, self-possessed, Barney Fife anecdote. In Chapter 14 the author argues against the use of fat clients (PCs that use front end database products like Microsoft Access): "Fat clients need lots of processing power, lots of hard drive space, lots of memory, and executives who know how to waste money." A sentence that only a teenager or a political speechwriter could write and appreciate. That, he expects us to believe, is the only reason so many PCs with Microsoft Office are in the business place -- because executives have a desire to waste money?
The book's primary failing: It provides a flyover of a lot of territory but it never lands. Yes, it explains the features of SQL Server 2000, offers plenty of screen shots, but where are the step-by-step, real-world earthy examples? How and when do we apply all these features and ideas to our business? If the author knows, he's not telling. Or at least he's not telling enough. In the end this is yet another computer reference book where there's no there there. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: Not There.
Review: Less chest-thumping and many more real world examples would have made this a better book. "SQL Server 2000 The Complete Reference" is over 900 pages and packed with lots of ink, but it lacks relevance and many times left me confused because of its hollow attitude. Here, for example, the author goes off on a tangent, telling us about a workplace incident where he apparently sees himself standing up for what's right: "Once I was handed the keys to a critical server, and a few days after I took over the system, a number of alterations had been made to several databases." We're not told the specifics but apparently these were not good alterations: "After that, I changed access permissions and locked down the databases." And then there's a showdown: "I was confronted by the development team and their head honcho... Trust me I have been down this road a few times." Sounds like every other watery post on every other Internet forum -- a vague, self-possessed, Barney Fife anecdote. In Chapter 14 the author argues against the use of fat clients (PCs that use front end database products like Microsoft Access): "Fat clients need lots of processing power, lots of hard drive space, lots of memory, and executives who know how to waste money." A sentence that only a teenager or a political speechwriter could write and appreciate. That, he expects us to believe, is the only reason so many PCs with Microsoft Office are in the business place -- because executives have a desire to waste money?
The book's primary failing: It provides a flyover of a lot of territory but it never lands. Yes, it explains the features of SQL Server 2000, offers plenty of screen shots, but where are the step-by-step, real-world earthy examples? How and when do we apply all these features and ideas to our business? If the author knows, he's not telling. Or at least he's not telling enough. In the end this is yet another computer reference book where there's no there there. Don't waste your money.
Rating:
Summary: This book is not for some people
Review: Since this book was titled as a complete reference, and it received great reviews here, I decided that I should dive right into SQL Server with this book at hand. Unfortunately, I found that this book is not enjoyable to read for those of us who's attension is hard to hold. I imagine that many others (especially those who have some knowledge of the topic) would get some use out of it, but I'm posting this review to warn beginners, and people with short attension spans that this is not the book to start with even if you have technical knowlegde in other areas.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!!!!
Review: SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference is just that. From beginner to advanced you will learn the ins and outs of SQL Server. Rather than just telling you what to do it lets you know why you do it. For beginners this is a good thing because far too often theory is left out of the equation when trying to evaluate a solution to problem. Those with more advanced knowledge on SQL Server will find this to be the perfect bookshelf reference for those items you rarely use or have forgotten. As a consultant I keep a library of reference books on hand for most programming technologies and this will represent my SQL Server section till the next book from Mr. Shapiro. I highly recommend this to anyone. Kudos to the author!!
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