You know one of those reference books you buy but no matter how often you look at it it never has the answer to your questions? Yes? Well this book is one of those.

As a professional software developer I never had much use for Que books - thick paper, too much white space, and big fonts. This book is no exception. I made the mistake of buying it on the strength of the reviews at Amazon but it lives up to the Que tradition of being a book full of basic information, most of which is available in the SQL server docs. Sure it has lots of examples but little that is very enlightening.

I didn't get the impression here that this was a basic book but it is. It is going to be a disappointment to you if you, like me, already know SQL/DBMS programming but from another database product. If I was starting out then maybe I'd find it of use, but a one-stop answer to all you SQL Server problems it most definitely is not. If I ever find it useful I will come straight back here and change this review.

I have been working more than four years with SQL Server, since version 6.5. In my work I have to cover all the funcionality in SQL Server as I am developer, administrator and so on. I have few SQL books as I find is quite simple to find almost anything in the BOLs.

But this book is the best I have ever seen to get into SQL Server and improve your skills, from the point of view of a developer there is not better book. It is also a incredible source of information for experts, it really explores all the new features you can find in SQL Server 2000.

I also know the two authors's work as they help many people in the SQL forums and I can say they are really good.

Enjoy it!!!

Although not entirely sufficient as preparation for the SQL Server Design exam, it certainly helped me along that path, and in a much more enjoyable way than many of those dry certification-prep books which assume significant prior knowledge and do little in the way of skill-building. This book is also excellent for non-certification people wanting to learn to program SQL Server. I found it to be authoritative and very readable.