Rating: 
Summary: Sloppily thrown together and out-dated
Review: I didn't like this book. I was looking for the be-all, end-all tome on T-SQL and was sorely disappointed. There's no consistently in syntax (e.g., old vs. new join syntax), nor in coding techniques. These guy may know T-SQL, but they don't seem to be seasoned coders.
Rating:
Summary: Very poor coverage of 7.0
Review: I recently switched from years of Oracle PL/SQL work to Microsoft Transact-SQL. Having had good luck with other O'Reilly titles, I bought this book. I had high hopes that were very quickly dashed. Many of the examples in this book don't work for SQL Server 7.0 because they are apparently geared toward an earlier release of the product. In my first night with this book, I found no less than a dozen examples that would run on SQL Server 7.0. I was really bummed out and frustrated by this. I'm still looking for a good Transact-SQL book that covers 7.0.
Rating:
Summary: Decent book, but misses the mark in many respects
Review: This book was OK, but I was expecting much more, given that it was part of the Nutshell series. It doesn't cover modern T-SQL techniques very well and is poorly organized. Stuff you'd expect to be covered upfront is saved for an Appendix and stuff in the latter half of the book probably should be covered earlier. All in all, I didn't learn much from this one.
Rating:
Summary: A decent book, but really lacking in 7.0 coverage
Review: I liked this book okay, but felt it was a bit dated. I kept running into techniques that I've heard Microsoft has recommended against, like directly querying the system tables or using *= joins. Also, the book seemed uneven -- I guess that's probably due to the multiple authors, but I dunno. I bought Henderson's Transact-SQL Guru's Guide book at the same time and I'm far happier with it. It's better in almost every category and covers 7.0 extensively.
Rating:
Summary: Really disappointing
Review: I came to this book expecting SQL Server 7.0 coverage and was really disappointed. There's nothing about 7.0 in this book except for very perfunctory coverage in an appendix. Also, the book is disorganized and contains many coding errors and poor techniques. Guys, Microsoft deprecated old-style joins two releases ago. If you're looking for a comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of Transact-SQL, keep looking.
Rating:
Summary: NOT a 7.0 book
Review: I bought this book because the cover said it covered SQL Server7.0. Really, it's just a 6.5 book with a single appendix on 7.0. Somany things changed in 7.0 that this makes the book virtually useless for 7.0 users. Basically, you pay money for one chapter and that chapter isn't really that good.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but very specific to 6.5
Review: I liked this book, but SQL 7.0 is covered in an appendix. Moreover, many of the techniques shown are archaic and have been deprecated by Microsoft, even for SQL 6.5. For example, joins are often show using the old join syntax. I wouldn't have such a problem with this if this book didn't advertise itself as a SQL 7.0 book. It's definitely not a 7.0 book and if you buy it expecting that, you'll be disappointed. Another problem with the book is its failure to adequately distinguish between Sybase and Microsoft syntax. There are some important differences, as the products have diverged more with each new release. Some of the examples show code that works on Sybase, but not on Microsoft (or vice versa), without telling the reader. The book would have been better off focusing on one or the other.
Rating: 
Summary: Took me to the next level and taught me new tricks
Review: This book concentrates on transact sql for MS-SQL and Sybase. The book is well written and I covers a lot of ground. I bought it to write distributed stored procs. Well it gave me great examples and it also fills in the what if questions. Worth while. I keep it next to my desk.
Rating:
Summary: A purist's T-SQL book.
Review: You'd think this book covers SQL Server 6.5, 7.0 and Sybase SQL Server that this is going to be patchy here and there, trying to cover one product here and another product there. You'd think SQL Server 7.0 is so much more advanced than SQL Server 6.5 that this book has to make so many compromises that it's only half good for either. And you'd probably think that this book has so few pages, this must only be an intro. Not so on all three accounts. This book is to-the-point Transact-SQL. There's no filler material here. I've programmed in Transact-SQL for quite awhile, and the examples, along with the descriptions, help me produce clean code. SQL Server is sensitive to how code and indexes interact. The author stresses the synergistic design of indexes and code. Here is what you do have to watch out for if you're considering this book: *This book is clearly a T-SQL only book. For example, it does not dwell on the exact page size; 6.5 uses 2k pages, while 7.0 uses 8k pages. You must be aware of this when you code and design indexes. This book covers the concepts very well, but it is up to you to apply the concepts to your design. *Certain exciting additions such as Linked Servers are not discussed. The book is a bit backwards on the inter-operability of SQL Server, since Linked Server offers remote queries in addition to the functionality of Remote Servers (Linked Server is not available in 6.5). *Replication is also not discussed. SQL Server 7.0 has greatly improved on the replication capabilities over 6.5, both in ease and reliability. In all fairness, replication is an enterprise architecture issue more than a coding issue. Like all thick products, SQL Server (and Sybase SQL Server) deserves more than one book on any developer's/DBA's desk. I really like this book as a coding guide, but would definitely supplement this with: *Inside SQL Server 7.0: performance tuning and deep understanding of SQL Server under-the-hood. This book is hard core. *Books Online: excellent coverage on Replication, DTC, disaster recovery. Although not nice to read, I've had a hard time finding this information elsewhere. *Deploying SQL Server: high level deployment guide.
Rating:
Summary: If you are a developer, this will improve your code
Review: I develop databases professionally for e-commerce websites. I use this book all the time as a reference. I learned quite a bit from the book the first time I read it, even though I had several other references. I particularly appreciated the chapter on optimizing databases for performance. My databases and stored procedures are faster because of it, and I code them faster too. You'll be satisfied with this book if you buy it.
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