Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Step by Step [With CDROM]

by Mike Hotek

Teach yourself SQL Server 2008--one step at a time. Get the practical guidance you need to build database solutions that solve real-world business problems. Learn to integrate SQL Server data in your... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735626049
• ISBN13: 9780735626041
• Release Date: November 2008
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 505 Pages
• Weight: 2.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book for a beginner DBA in SQL Server 2008

This is an excellent book for a beginner DBA in SQL Server 2008. CD included.

good book for starters

good book for starters. would have been great if there are more examples to practice with.

A Great Help in Understanding MS SQL Server

I just completed a different MS SQL Server 2008 book, and am now wishing that I would have read this first, basically because the author, Hotek, is so much more concise and is defining terms as he goes, and is clearer when describing database concepts. So now I am forced to read this book too, just to clear up what was confusing in the first book! What this book has that the *other* didn't is a really organized approach to MS SQL Server, including a description of all the tools that come with it and a meaty section on Business Intelligence with chapters on SQL Server Integration, Reporting and Analysis Services, which is the reason I bought this book originally. As a side note, Mr. Hotek also obviously has a lot of experience and is sane... in Chapter 5, he gives an opinion on database design that I have secretly thought for years and I can't believe he said this: "...Lost in all of this material is the simple fact that tables have to be created to support an application and the people creating the tables have more important things to worry about than which normal form a database is in or if they remembered to build a logical model and render a physical model from the logical model." That totally floored me and impressed me. I have read many books where the author is so freaked out about 1st, 2nd and 3rd normal form, that it made me completely cross-eyed. It is the application and the basic design of the database, and what the users need that is what's important... not worrying about conforming to some theoretical utopia. I'm not saying we should build tables full of redundant data - obviously not - but let's stay focused on the task at hand. Anyway, I would say this is not a book for beginning programmers, but it is a great book for beginning MS SQL server developers. I recommended in my review of the *other* MS SQL Server 2008 book that you should get more than one book on any technical subject to help fill in the gaps, and hopefully one book can explain concepts that the other can't... I still stand by that.

A Good Introduction to SQL Server 2008

This book was a pleasant surprise, I was looking for an introduction to SQL Server and this book was exactly that. The chapters were all in manageable sizes with the right amount of detail and exercises (%95+ worked as expected) to reinforce the topic. I don't usually write reviews, but if you are looking like I was for a book provide a basic introduction to SQL Server 2008 I would recommend this one. As a bonus there script which the author says can be used in production to perform backups.