Writing Stored Procedures with Microsoft SQL Server: The Authoritative Solution

Rating:
Summary: Good book for beginners
Review: I disagree with the negative comments given to this book. Even if it IS simply a rewrite of Books Online (a complaint of other reviewers), it's done in a very easy to read style - and the order of topics covered worked well for me. I've been programming with VBA for years, but was totally new to stored procedures - and this book has me tackling stored procedures with confidence. I'm impressed. I'm guessing this is NOT a good book for the person who has been working with stored procedures for a long time and wants fine-tuning - some of the examples are a bit simplistic - BUT it IS a good book for the beginner. Maybe even more important, unlike most "beginner" books, the author includes solid conceptual foundations - explaining the why as well as the process.

Rating:
Summary: Good book for beginners
Review: I disagree with the negative comments given to this book. Even if it IS simply a rewrite of Books Online (a complaint of other reviewers), it's done in a very easy to read style - and the order of topics covered worked well for me. I've been programming with VBA for years, but was totally new to stored procedures - and this book has me tackling stored procedures with confidence. I'm impressed. I'm guessing this is NOT a good book for the person who has been working with stored procedures for a long time and wants fine-tuning - some of the examples are a bit simplistic - BUT it IS a good book for the beginner. Maybe even more important, unlike most "beginner" books, the author includes solid conceptual foundations - explaining the why as well as the process.

Rating:
Summary: Great for learning in an intermediate level
Review: I think that this book definitly enabled me to understand and code in a more efficient manner, t-sql statements.

Rating:
Summary: Nice book
Review: I use this book very often. I wish it had more than 330 pages.

Rating:
Summary: Don't know whether to laugh or cry...
Review: I've got over 300 technical books on my bookshelves and this is probably one of the worst. Apparently the publisher/author wanted to be 'first out of the gate' in order to cash in or something, because this is just a rehashing (sometimes verbatim!) of the Books Online that comes with the program. Anyone can copy-and-paste, but it takes a true master to take an oftentimes dry subject and make it understandable as well as enjoyable. If you're looking for just such a master, Grasshopper, than leave this page immediately and go look at Ken Henderson's "The Guru's Guide to SQL Server Stored Procedures, XML, and HTML." Trust me -- you'll be glad you did. Namaste!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty much a reprint of the Books Online
Review: I've purchased Sams' books before, and have not been disappointed until I received this book. The book's examples and sytax explanations seem to be cut-and-paste from SQL Server's help files. I expected better and more detailed examples in this book. I wanted some coverage of constraints, which was not included in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Stored Procedure Reference
Review: I've purchased Sams' books before, and have not been disappointed until I received this book. The book's examples and sytax explanations seem to be cut-and-paste from SQL Server's help files. I expected better and more detailed examples in this book. I wanted some coverage of constraints, which was not included in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty much a reprint of the Books Online
Review: If I wanted a printed version of the BOL, I'd just print it out. There's far too much stuff here straight out of the BOL. I get the impression the guy doesn't know his subject material very well. I wish I hadn't wasted my time with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Have some XML too.
Review: If you are looking for a complete book on writing stored procedures, good luck! , this is one of the few. I was surprised to find a chapter on the fact that MS SQL Server 2000 is offering XML support probably out of ignorance. Unfortunately, for those who wish to write stored procedures, once you get past the ways XML and SQL work together to pass parameters and query data you are given almost an entire chapter on XML basics and how to construct XML documents. It appears Microsoft is making up for lost chapters in more approporiate books here. Luckily, I just happened to be learning XML at the same time so I had some interest in this chapter. It actually explains some basic XML issues better than the XML books themselves although it is only a limited chapter in a stored procedure book. The author kind of left the topic of XML and SQL Server 2000 working together and decided to discuss basic XML. Other than that and the fact that few if any books/chapters have ever mentioned the fact you can create your sp and triggers within the Enterprise Manager environment, this is a pretty good way to learn stored procedures if you have never done them before. I still believe it only compliments what you will learn by studying actual stored procedures that are in aplications. ---Ack Ack

Rating:
Summary: don't waste your time reading this book
Review: It seems to me that the authors don't have real working experience on either sybase or microsoft sql server.