First Look at Microsoft SQL Server "Yukon" Beta for Developers

Rating:
Summary: A valuable and detailed overview of a DBMS work-in-progress
Review: "A First Look at SQL Server 2005 for Developers" is aptly named. It's a timely, detailed, and very useful introduction to what's new in SQL Server 2005 for three types of developers: database-oriented developers (e.g., with a Transact-SQL background), .NET developers (using C# or VB.NET), and XML-focused developers (perhaps most focused on Web services, XML Schema, etc.). SQL Server 2005 attempts to provide a more seamlessly unified set of services for these three developer approaches, and the book does a great job of explaining how all of the pieces fit together, along with ramifications for SQL Server architecture and security.

The authors faced a major challenge in that SQL Server 2005 hasn't shipped yet, and Microsoft made some changes after the book was published. The chapter on ObjectSpaces, for instance, no longer applies to SQL Server 2005 (at least to pre-Longhorn releases of SQL Server 2005). The ObjectSpaces chapter is still a useful preview of more complete, future integration among programming models, but Microsoft will no doubt make some major changes before Longhorn is finalized.

(p.s. sorry for the EMPHATIC capitalization of my last name in this review; Amazon.com appears to discriminate against people who have apostrophes in their last names, so I had to choose between "O'kelly" and "O'KELLY")

Rating:
Summary: The best there will be until the revised version next year
Review: Databases are at the core of most software projects these days and there is a fair amount of competition between software vendors for a bigger share of a lucrative market. However, it would be fair to say that only DBAs really know what their database servers are capable of and maybe only half of them really everything that their software can do. One of the biggest arguments for this First Look At SQL Server 2005 book then is as a prospectus for all the developer-related features and functional nooks and crannies that the next incarnation of SQL Server (codename 'Yukon') will contain.

Split over seventeen chapters and two appendices, this very thorough book covers the ins and outs of four main topics - SQL Server as a CLR host, XML, enhancements to the existing features of SQL Server 2000 and notification services - that should be of interest to developers looking forward to a world of Whidbey and Yukon. Topics such as security and XQuery aren't exhaustive - they'd each take up a book on their own - but all the main points within the context of this book are covered. Indeed, with the exception of Chapter 14, which covers a feature since removed from SQL Server 2005 but is well written anyway, each chapter is clean, concise and packed with useful information.

The author team of three have produced a book that at times goes as deep into detail as Don Box's Essential .NET does while treating 'lighter' topics such as Microsoft's new enhancements to T-SQL, in no less detail but in an easier to read style. The main focus of this book are the new opportunities for developers to utilize Yukon but administrators can also take a lot away from this book having been made aware of areas that developers may focus on. In all, this is an excellent preview book on developing with SQL Server 2005 in mind and should be kept around until the revised version comes out for the actual release of this new database.

Rating:
Summary: Stored procedures and XML
Review: Microsoft continues to integrate its SQL Server deeper into its .NET framework. One result is this book, with a heads-up on new features with a nominal release date of 2005. YOu can see a lot of changes.

Most significant, perhaps, is that the .NET CLR engine is now embedded into the SQL Server engine. So that stored procedures can now be written, and in several .NET languages, at that. Stored procedures are a key optimisation technique of sophisticated databases, so it is very good to see it here.

Hmm, I wonder. This book scrupulously avoids mentioning any rival databases. But at the low end, SQL Server has to ward off the free MySQL. The latter lacks stored procedures [for now]. So this lets Microsoft put some distance between them. Plus, above SQL Server in functionality sits Oracle and dB2. So stored procedures help close the gap here.

Another interesting note about the book is the sheer space devoted to integrating in XML. There is now a native XML data type in SQL Server. All relational databases are having to move towards handling XML. This also makes it harder for pure object oriented databases, like Versant, to make inroads when major databases like SQL Server handle XML.

Rating:
Summary: Good head-start on a major new release of SQL Server
Review: SQL Server 2005 will be a big release for SQL Server, on the scale of the 6.5 to 7.0 upgrade. With that kind of shift, it is critical to have a head start in planning. How are the decisions I am making today fit into SQL Server 2005? How will CLR integration help me build solutions? What can I do with the new XML datatype? These are all common questions answered in this book, along with many others.

The book is very readable with good context and background. It makes a great guide to using the SQL Server 2005 previews available to MSDN subscribers.

Rating:
Summary: Good writing leads to good reading
Review: Ten years ago I bought a book called "Introducing Java". It was basically some warmed over magazine articles that was filled with...... well ... filler. Poorly written, many key sentences were vague and they stayed vague even after a close reading. So, I became suspicious of any sort of Introducing, First Look etc.

But on the basis that Bob Beauchemin is one of the authors I gave this book a try. And I am five star happy that I did.

Firstly it must be said that SQL Sever 2005 is a massive piece of software. It not just a gazillion new bells and whistles, but there are some foundational shifts in how we will program.

There is a lot of material in the book. But it is anything but filler. If there is something I didn't understand, rereading helped me out!

I consider myself an XML wonk of sorts and it is painful to read database writers discussing XML all the while not "getting it". Rest assured these guys get it.

In short
Extremely worthwhile.
This book is not for newbies.
The will not be your last book on XQuery, but the discussion on XQuery is dense and accurate.
You will need your hi-lighter and post-it's at hand when reading this.

There is a lot to SQL Server 2005, and this book will be a great way to get a handle on it. In fact, I am guessing this "First Look" will be on my desktop for a couple of years from now.


Rating:
Summary: Definitive Yukon Book
Review: The first place I look for anything data related is Bob Beauchemin. His 30 years of industry database experience gives him total mastery in all things data. I met Bob at a Win-Dev speakers dinner last year and he as humble as he is knowldegeable. I am totally jazzed to see him team up with DM collegue and my friend Neils Berglund, as well as Dan Sullivan to ship the book Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for Developers. The first Yukon book out there, it's so great (I have been reading it the last 4 days) that its bound to become the definitive Yukon book to understand all the vital concepts. Highly Recomended!!

Rating:
Summary: Well-written but CLR and XML topics dominate the book
Review: When it comes to SQL Server, I have always found BOL to be 99% comprehensive and 99% usable, so I regard the majority of aftermarket books to be written for people who want to avoid BOL for other reasons.

Of course, BOL 2005 is a work in progress, as is SQL 2005 itself, which makes the learning curve steep, especially if you didn't get started with an earlier beta, so I had high expectations for "A First Look at SQL Server 2005 for Developers" from Addison-Wesley. It's roughly 700 pages (depending on how you count; Amazon apparently counts every single sheet of paper between the covers, even if they aren't normal pages).

Let's get something straight right away: this book is for mainstream app developers. In particular, it's mostly about the CLR integration and XML-related features. Sure, general T-SQL enhancements and other areas like Notification Services get covered, and there's some cursory information about the new GUI tools. But topics like Analysis Services, DTS, Reporting Services, and migration/deployment are totally missing. I think this book does a great job covering its chosen topics in reasonable depth, but the bottom line is that you should set your expectations based on your interest in CLR and XML.

One more thing to get out of the way: The publisher's "Book Support" page is useless. The publisher claims that you should be able to find Errata here, but there's currently no link. Also, the Sample Chapter link is currently broken. (You can, however, find a sample chapter from this book in the Beta 2 Resource Kit recently posted on the MSDN Subscribers Download site. It's Chapter 15 covering the new Service Broker.)

The book has an official web site with updates, downloadable code examples, and errata. To find it, you must visit one of the links on page xxxiii and surf to the book site under Bob Beauchemin's site at DevelopMentor.

This is a very well-written book which does an outstanding job of moving from concepts to code. When concepts are introduced, some books drag out the process of putting them into context (either historical context such as the current situation in SQL 2000, or the context of real-world application usage). This book quickly and concisely explains why a feature is important, then proceeds to show how it works. The authors are careful not to become too concise when it comes to SQL terminology. Their trainer backgrounds probably tell them that many people don't know the formal names for things (especially users of Microsoft products who first learned things on-the-job with no help) so they are careful to define terms like aggregate functions and ACID when first used. Therefore, I think someone with little/no SQL experience will still be able to follow this book. Chapter 6 on security deserves a special mention for being accessible to a wide audience. If you're well-versed in SQL Server 2000, Windows, and .NET security, the reminders in this chapter are quick to review while discovering the 2005 improvements. If you're shamefully ignorant of current security issues, this chapter brings a lot together in only 35 pages.

On the other hand, if you are not already familiar with .NET, this book is not the place to start. There is an attempt in Appendix A to include a brief overview of .NET, but I seriously doubt it would be adequate for the stated audience: people "who haven't done any development at all using .NET."

Code fragments are intermixed with the text at the proper points, and they are just the right length to illustrate the point at hand. This book does not attempt to assemble a complete sample app as you go sequentially through the chapters, which makes it easier to jump around. Simple diagrams are used when needed. Some books use random screenshots and fancy charts just to break up the text and keep it from looking dense, but this book is readable without wasting space on fluff. There very few screenshots in the entire book, most of them in Appendix B which covers the GUI tools.

Based upon what I see in Amazon reviews of various .NET books and upon the fact that many .NET books go to the trouble of providing sample code in both C# and VB .NET, I gather that there are some VB .NET programmers who don't like books which use C# exclusively. If you're one of them, I urge you to give this book a chance, even though all the .NET example code is C#. The examples are short and so clearly written that you shouldn't have any trouble reading them.

The book is meant to cover Beta 2 as best it can, but the majority of the book had to be finalized in early May which you can tell from the sample PDF. Published copies were shipping several weeks before Microsoft built the actual Beta 2 release. Although the screenshots in Appendix B show "Beta 2" on the login dialog, the title bars still say "SQL Workbench" and a footnote acknowledges the discrepancy between the screenshots and the text which refers to SQL Server Management Studio. Luckily, the authors and early readers have been diligent about finding the things which need to be updated and corrected, so make sure to visit the book's web site. I expect relatively little of the book to be affected by Beta 3 and the site will probably cover whatever is.

While RTM remains many months away, this book is a good investment. It doesn't replace BOL, and other 2005 books will be coming out, but if you need a time-efficient way to get your arms around the CLR and XML capabilities of Beta 2, I recommend this book.