SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference

Since this book was titled as a complete reference, and it received great reviews here, I decided that I should dive right into SQL Server with this book at hand. Unfortunately, I found that this book is not enjoyable to read for those of us who's attension is hard to hold. I imagine that many others (especially those who have some knowledge of the topic) would get some use out of it, but I'm posting this review to warn beginners, and people with short attension spans that this is not the book to start with even if you have technical knowlegde in other areas.

This is a great book. Information is organized and flows very well. With an MCP in Data Warehousing, this book provided me a really good view of "SQL Server Land". Others have been critical about the depth of content, but the author makes it very clear that some topics are too big for this type of book, with over 900 pages- it's provides plenty. In addition, the author interjects humor that makes reading more pleasurable. This is the best SQL Server book I have read yet!

I am writing this in respone to the 1 star review, particularly the XML and ISAPI comments. Chapter 23 covers ALL of the XML functionality in SQL2K. This is not a book on ASP development, that is why there is a SQL2k Web Applications Developer Guide, one by Osborne which is excellent written by Craig Utley, but probably 100 other ASP programmers guides. ASP has absolutely nothing to do with SQL Server. You can make a career writing ASP and never touch a SQL2K database. This book is for the beginner or experienced DBA who needs to get up to speed on SQL2K and what it does. The chapter on XML has a fully functional demo app that uses ASP, XML and VBScript and a SQL2K database. I would reccomend this book to anyone that want to learn all of the ins and outs of SQl2K, and wants a good understanding of the XML support in SQL2K. There are tons of samples and code in this book, and i think that is what makes it so good, and a very good read. But in the end, it is a SQL2000 Complete Reference, so that is the main concentration. A must have for any serious DBA!

Very informitave and concise details. I have serveral on my shelf, but use this one from now on. Overall 5 star.

SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference is just that. From beginner to advanced you will learn the ins and outs of SQL Server. Rather than just telling you what to do it lets you know why you do it. For beginners this is a good thing because far too often theory is left out of the equation when trying to evaluate a solution to problem. Those with more advanced knowledge on SQL Server will find this to be the perfect bookshelf reference for those items you rarely use or have forgotten. As a consultant I keep a library of reference books on hand for most programming technologies and this will represent my SQL Server section till the next book from Mr. Shapiro. I highly recommend this to anyone. Kudos to the author!!