Rating: 
Summary: goto msdn.microsoft.com
Review: As a compilation of Microsoft's sketchy and scattered documentation on ADO, this book succeeds. However rarely does it drill deep enough into the depths to be very useful. I give it 3 stars for a couple decent, though incomplete, chapters on handling conflicts and hierarchical recordsets. Maybe the author should have sprung for a few lunches w/ the developers.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely good, real world ADO coverage.
Review: David Sceppa works in Developer Support at Microsoft, and it shows in this book. Each chapter has a section entitled "Questions that should be asked more frequently", that is full of useful information that shows his experience in the trenches.His Visual Basic sample code is actually good quality code, unlike code in so many other books. This is important because so many developers pick up bad coding habits from sloppy sample code in books. All in all, this is a great book, with detailed yet readable coverage of the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely good, real world ADO coverage.
Review: David Sceppa works in Developer Support at Microsoft, and it shows in this book. Each chapter has a section entitled "Questions that should be asked more frequently", that is full of useful information that shows his experience in the trenches. His Visual Basic sample code is actually good quality code, unlike code in so many other books. This is important because so many developers pick up bad coding habits from sloppy sample code in books. All in all, this is a great book, with detailed yet readable coverage of the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Programmer's Gold Book
Review: I am an ASP programmer with a little more than a year experience and I always was looking for a book that would explain me when and how to use right technique for better performance in my applications. This book explains very well and in very easy language things that were missing in my knowledge because ASP books usually do not cover them (by the way English is my second language). I am very happy because I have this book now. I think it is programmer's Gold Book and it is worth more than all other ASP books that I read before. I discovered for myself details about ADO programming that I didn't know and didn't understand before. Thank you for David Sceppa!
Rating:
Summary: REQUIRED READING
Review: I have read many books, but i approached this one thinking it could be something like reading ADO reference in MSDN. But i was wrong. This book is fundamental if you really want to know how to use ADO and how ADO works. Believe me, you will learn MANY interesting things about ADO. You can use ADO without reading this book, but you will lose very important knowledge of this important technology.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading for Professional Programmers
Review: I literally use this book everyday troubleshooting clients ADO problems. I have other ADO books on my shelf but David's explanation of ADO's functionality plus his insight and suggestions on how to code with ADO make this book my number one ADO resource. As other reviewers have said the ADO documentation is lacking in many areas and David has filled in these gaps with his extensive knowledge of the technology and his own hard won experience. Here is an example of David's insight, experience, and humor when it comes to dealing with ADO Cursors, "Back-end databases, OLE DB providers, ODBC drivers, CursorLocations, CursorType, LockType, CommandType, oh my! What's a database developer to do? With a little experience and a lot of reading, you'll develop a good feel for which combinations are possible and which aren't." This quote of from Chapter 7 Cursors, Foiled Again and the section is titled You Can't Always Get What You Want. In this chapter David does a great job of guiding us developers through what is known and what is not know about this part of ADO. It is this type of guidance and insight that I want the most when I am developing new ADO applications and when I am troubleshooting ADO code. If you have any dealings with ADO then you simply must get this book.
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading for Professional Programmers
Review: I literally use this book everyday troubleshooting clients ADO problems. I have other ADO books on my shelf but David's explanation of ADO's functionality plus his insight and suggestions on how to code with ADO make this book my number one ADO resource. As other reviewers have said the ADO documentation is lacking in many areas and David has filled in these gaps with his extensive knowledge of the technology and his own hard won experience. Here is an example of David's insight, experience, and humor when it comes to dealing with ADO Cursors, "Back-end databases, OLE DB providers, ODBC drivers, CursorLocations, CursorType, LockType, CommandType, oh my! What's a database developer to do? With a little experience and a lot of reading, you'll develop a good feel for which combinations are possible and which aren't." This quote of from Chapter 7 Cursors, Foiled Again and the section is titled You Can't Always Get What You Want. In this chapter David does a great job of guiding us developers through what is known and what is not know about this part of ADO. It is this type of guidance and insight that I want the most when I am developing new ADO applications and when I am troubleshooting ADO code. If you have any dealings with ADO then you simply must get this book.
Rating:
Summary: goto msdn.microsoft.com
Review: If you dont have access to microsoft library then you can probably buy this book. its nothing but just the API reference. The foreword gives an illusion of getting interested but when the chapter comes its again refrence. and "Questions That Should Be Asked More Frequently" section is good, but i aint worth to buy the book just for that....
Rating: 
Summary: Full Coverage in Readable Format
Review: If you think the on-line help is hideous and a more generic Visual Basic book does have enough depth, then this is the book for you. Like most Microsoft Press books it's easy enough to read. Since it is focused on a narrow topic, it actually has some depth to it. ADO is definitely a work-in-progess and this book explains many of the problems. For example Scheppa notes is a few places how ADO's behavior is not the same as what the documentation says. There were enough insights in the presentation of the properties, methods, and events to keep me going through otherwise boring material. I remember seeing mistakes in the text that made me stop to think. There were also areas which were not covered in enough depth. For instance, Sceppa has excellent coverage on how to avoid locking records, but essentially nothing on the proper way to lock records. It may not be perfect, but it is very well done and there is really nothing that compares it to on the subject of ADO. Many people are surprised to find that there is an entire book dedicated to ADO.
Rating:
Summary: Full Coverage in Readable Format
Review: If you think the on-line help is hideous and a more generic Visual Basic book does have enough depth, then this is the book for you. Like most Microsoft Press books it's easy enough to read. Since it is focused on a narrow topic, it actually has some depth to it. ADO is definitely a work-in-progess and this book explains many of the problems. For example Scheppa notes is a few places how ADO's behavior is not the same as what the documentation says. There were enough insights in the presentation of the properties, methods, and events to keep me going through otherwise boring material. I remember seeing mistakes in the text that made me stop to think. There were also areas which were not covered in enough depth. For instance, Sceppa has excellent coverage on how to avoid locking records, but essentially nothing on the proper way to lock records. It may not be perfect, but it is very well done and there is really nothing that compares it to on the subject of ADO. Many people are surprised to find that there is an entire book dedicated to ADO.
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