Rating: 
Summary: Great book to get started!
Review: I was looking for a book that would help me setup a small company's database and write some VB apps for their business. This was just what I needed! Lots of working VB code on the CD and a ton of details on T-SQL. The chapter on security was awesome; lots of things I hadn't considered when I started the project.Definitely a good book for developers!
Rating:
Summary: This book rocks
Review: I'm a recent college graduate and this book is teaching me a lot. This book is very usefull for me becuase I work for a small startup e-commerce company (12 employees, 4 IT/Graphics) and I function as both a DBA and an ASP webdeveloper. This book gives a lot conceptual teaching with very good example support. It is one of the best teaching books i have bought. I learned the microsoft proprietary exensions in T-SQL for doing Stored proceedures and Triggers so I can tranform some of the SQL intensive ASP code into stored proceedure/triggers, Database replication that will hopefully make me not have to use DTS quite so much, learned how to link access to SQL server so I can use access's automated featurers to program the website admin capabilities much faster and make it more user-friendly, and handle SQL server security so all the employees can at least read from the database without having to give it a password, but only the website or the admin pages can write to the database and Me and one other person can do the admin and backup stuff to the SQL server. This book does not teach database design (It teaches some stuff on the relational model for pruposes of SQL programming, but not for proper design and normaliztion), so if you want to learn how to design and normalize databases, look for an extra book, like O'reilly's Access Database design and programming (Nearly half of the book is database design, and it is very good in conceptual teaching so you can easily transfer the knowledge to other platforms - SQL Server, Oracle, etc..) This book does do an exceptional job in what it does teach though - database integration programming and SQL Server admin / programming. Also, beign a hybrid admin/programming book , don't expect to to appease hardcore programmers, or veteran DBAs, but if you are a recent college graduate, or only been in the industry for a few years, and you do a lot of database oriented programming (E-Commerce, etc..), and especially if you have a role over the administration or programming (Stored procedures, triggers, etc..) of the SQL server for the website, GET THIS BOOK!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for everyone
Review: I'm a super-computer nerd consultant who is an MCSE that mainly works with SQL Server. I've heavily used SQL Server 4.2 & 6.5 as a DBA,SQL developer, and Visual Basic programmer. I wanted more information on 7.0 prior to taking the MCDBA tests and doing numerous upgrades and development using 7.0. I'm not sure if this book will help me pass the exam, but this book definately gave me the basic knowledge I need to carry over my 4.2/6.5 skills . This book will teach you how to administer and develop on a SQL Server 7.0 box in laymans terms. I could have benefited more if the DBA administration part was more advanced, but then it wouldn't be called a Developer's guide. All in all, I highly recommend this book!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: I reviewed before, but I have to lower my rating
Review: I've been learning more stuff and I got more books and the new things altered my rating standards. The Access integration and the database integration programming is all too obsolete. Access2000 supports OLE-DB connections to SQL server with .adp files. This book teaches the old Access97 method in using ODBC link tables. Also, outside the function/constant reference, the Microsoft Implementation Trainging Kit (Like a lot, but at $80, needs to be better), and the DBA Survival Guide makes the DBA portion of this book worthless. Inside SQL Server rocks and with the DBA survival guide equates to the best $80 investment for SQL Server Admin/Development. I wasn't really interested in the database integration part of the book. I only bother with ADO and ASP books cover that very well.
Rating:
Summary: I reviewed before, but I have to lower my rating
Review: I've been learning more stuff and I got more books and the new things altered my rating standards. The Access integration and the database integration programming is all too obsolete. Access2000 supports OLE-DB connections to SQL server with .adp files. This book teaches the old Access97 method in using ODBC link tables. Also, outside the function/constant reference, the Microsoft Implementation Trainging Kit (Like a lot, but at $80, needs to be better), and the DBA Survival Guide makes the DBA portion of this book worthless. Inside SQL Server rocks and with the DBA survival guide equates to the best $80 investment for SQL Server Admin/Development. I wasn't really interested in the database integration part of the book. I only bother with ADO and ASP books cover that very well.
Rating:
Summary: The only SQL Server 7.0 Book you need!
Review: If you only want one book on the subject of developing for SQL Server 7.0, this book is it. What separates this book from others is its ability to successfully transition from a 50,000' overview to the ground level where the job is done. The process of landing high level concepts occurs through resolving timeless issues that confront every professional developer, regardless of the platform. This book takes on the fundamentals of SQL, provides insight on database design techniques and then explains the mechanics of how to link an application with SQL Server. Although there are books available on each of these subjects, the authors present the information with the right blend of brevity & thoroughness. SQL Server 7.0 has many new features. The authors do a complete job of explaining what the new features are. They have provided insights and tips you need to know when it is time to set up and administrate the database. The book also nicely covers replication, a subject given one page in Soukup's "Inside SQL Server," and ignored in Vaughn's "Hitchhiker's Guide to Visual Basic and SQL Server." I found this book clearly written and concise, although it is almost one thousand pages. Code samples provided on the CD actually work. This is not a comment on the authors - similar books have burned me too many times whose CDs do not support the text. Like the rest of the book, the code is clear, and insightful. I look forward to future books by these authors.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent!!
Review: If you want to learn the ins and outs of SQL 7, as well as brush up on relational theory and SQL concepts, then this book is for you! The SQL Primer is especially good for us VB programmers with limited database experience. It has EVERYTHING you need to become a database programmer. It covers VB development using all the major interfaces (ADO/RDO/ODBC/ODBC Direct/DAO) and provides a thorough covering of the administrative aspects relative to version 7. The one area I found thin was in DTS (although it does explain it from a 50k-ft view). In summary, if you're an experienced programmer looking to really learn database stuff in detail, or a database programmer looking for a good SQL 7.0 guide/reference, then I highly recommend it!!!
Rating:
Summary: Good book afterall
Review: The book was very clear from the beginning but mention so little on the Web Development using SAP. Good book for SQL developer but not for developing WEB using ASP. This book emphasizes the essential of SQL Server side and do mention too little about ASP. If anyone want to develop ASP with SQL server this is not the right book for them.
Rating:
Summary: Great depth for making SQLServer 7 a standard software tool
Review: The SQL Server 7 Developer's Guide provided me with an excellent management overview of this re-designed relational database software and much serious in-depth support for making SQLServer 7 a part of the new standard set of windows applications packages. The content and structure is fresh and not a rewrite of material for earlier versions of SQLServer that appends new product features. The Developer's Guide is especially well-suited to someone, like myself, who does not have a previous investment in older SQL applications but is ready to bring SQLServer 7 onboard now because it will be easier to use and its applications will be customizabile with Visual Basic. The code samples on the CD will be a real aide to me. I found the material on the SQL-Transact language and coverage of all (old and new) MicroSoft connectivity methods for database applications clear and practical.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best written SQL Server 7 books I've read
Review: There are a number of good SQL Server 7 books around, but this is one of the best. The writing is very clear and does a good job of covering the range from basics to more advanced issues. There's lots of well-written VB and T-SQL code to illustrate "best practices". It's one of the few books for developers that doesn't ignore important administrative issues, especially the difficuly security questions. I would highly recommend this as one of the "standard references" for a SQL Server developer.
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