Transact-SQL Desk Reference: For Microsoft SQL Server

Rating:
Summary: Scott Hill
Review: Excellent examples and clear explanations. 12/22/2003

This book is exactly what I was looking for, an extension of Books Online with extra clear examples and explanations. Books Online is often still my first reference because it is convenient and does an excellent job. But when I need a second source for more information I now turn to Transact-SQL Desk Reference. If I still don't find what I need then I have to go to user groups or other external sources, but so far that has only happened once.

The tutorial in the first chapter is a nice overview for those who need it, but an advanced user can skip past it and go straight to the reference material starting in Chapter 2. The index is excellent and so far has never failed to put me in the right place to find what I want. I particularly like the extra examples of how to use different features. And the explanation of how to do disk layout to help restorability and performance is well beyond what I expected in a reference book. I plan to use the layout presented as a starting point for configuring my production database.

It could be argued that the syntax definitions taken from Books Online could be omitted, though in some cases the book has a better explanation of some of the items. All in all, it is definitely worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Scott Hill
Review: Excellent examples and clear explanations. 12/22/2003

This book is exactly what I was looking for, an extension of Books Online with extra clear examples and explanations. Books Online is often still my first reference because it is convenient and does an excellent job. But when I need a second source for more information I now turn to Transact-SQL Desk Reference. If I still don't find what I need then I have to go to user groups or other external sources, but so far that has only happened once.

The tutorial in the first chapter is a nice overview for those who need it, but an advanced user can skip past it and go straight to the reference material starting in Chapter 2. The index is excellent and so far has never failed to put me in the right place to find what I want. I particularly like the extra examples of how to use different features. And the explanation of how to do disk layout to help restorability and performance is well beyond what I expected in a reference book. I plan to use the layout presented as a starting point for configuring my production database.

It could be argued that the syntax definitions taken from Books Online could be omitted, though in some cases the book has a better explanation of some of the items. All in all, it is definitely worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Content - Not So Good Index
Review: This book is exactly what it's title says, it's a reference book. If you need brief descriptions and syntax for T-SQL statements and functions, this is a great book to have on your book shelf. However, the index is very weak. It is essentially an alphabetical listing of functions, so you need to know the name of a function to find it. For example, if you wanted to add an INDEX to a table, you would probably look under "I" for "INDEX.". But, you wouldn't find what you were looking for. You would need to look under "C" because the function is "CREATE INDEX." But, if you know what you are looking for, you'll find it in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Easy lookup of examples
Review: You know some SQL or you want to learn it? Otherwise why are you pondering this book and this review? But suppose you have never used Microsoft SQL Server. The title may then be puzzling. You see, Transact-SQL is Microsoft's name for the "Microsoft SQL Server SQL" [sic]. The latter quoted phrase is actually logically correct. It parses as Microsoft's extension of SQL2 or SQL3 that is implemented by its SQL Server. But the phrase looks ridiculous. Hence Transact-SQL.

Like their database competitors, IBM and Oracle, Microsoft supplies online documentation and hardcopy. But the sheer complexity of all the SQL options and the proprietary extensions, plus the undoubted opacity of the official documentation has spawned an independent sideline of books that provide alternative and presumably clearer views of the databases. Ideally, therefore, this book should not exist!

It assumes you already know the theory of SQL and relational databases. But that at times you will be casting around for the precise syntax of a command. So the book emphasises quick easy lookup of commands. Numerous examples are provided in bold font, to help you quickly get there. By contrast, the full syntax of a query is written in regular font, in BNF. [So you need to know BNF, but that is easy.] This may differ from some texts, where the full syntax is visually emphasised instead of its examples. Logically, the latter formulation makes sense. But the pragmatic pedagogy here is actually often more useful. Most of us will understand a few examples far quicker than perusing the abstraction of a full BNF description of a command. A simple display decision. But you may find that this is a nice usability feature that gives the book utility to you.