Review: A First Look at SQL Server 2005 for Developers
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Published: 01 Oct 2004
Unedited - Community Contributed
Abstract
Teemu Keiski, an ASP.NET MVP and ASPInsider, reviews the latest SQL Server book, "A First Look at SQL Server 2005 for Developers," published by Addison-Wesley.
by Teemu Keiski
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Overview

SQL Server 2005, code-named "Yukon," is with .NET 2.0 the other hot new product that will be released next year. The impact of these products is indisputable for all .NET developers who are going to take advantage of the new technology as soon as possible. With SQL Server 2005, .NET developers have a better, up-to-date database server that supports the software model .NET developers are used to building products with.

For example, SQL Server 2005 has built-in support for CLR languages, which means procedures, triggers, functions, user-defined types, and aggregates can be built with the CLR language that a developer likes like the most. The advantage of software integration with the database is one significant reason that will drive .NET developers towards SQL Server 2005. At the time of writing, SQL Server 2005 is still in beta stage (beta 2).

I had a wonderful chance to review Addison-Wesley's latest book about SQL Server 2005, A First Look at SQl Server 2005 for Developers ,written by Bob Beauchemin, Niels Berglund, and Dan Sullivan. The book is aimed at all developers interested in SQL Server 2005 and covers most of the new and exciting features.

Basic Information

The book has 693 pages in 17 chapters and two appendices.

Chapters

1. Introduction
2. Hosting the Runtime: SQL Server as a Runtime Host
3. Procedures and Functions in .NET Languages
4. The In-Process Data Provider
5. User-Defined Types and Aggregates
6. Security
7. T-SQL Enhancements
8. XML in the Database: The XML Data Type
9. XML Query Languages: XQuery and XPath
10. SQL Server as a Platform for Web Services
11. ADO and ADO.NET Enhancements
12. SQL Client Enhancements
13. Client-Side XML: SQLXML and Mapping
14. ObjectSpaces
15. SQL Server Service Broker
16. Notification Services
17. Wrap-up: Relations, XML, Objects and Services

Appendices

A. .NET 101
B. Tools Integration

The publisher, Addison-Wesley, maintains a Web site for the book at:
http://www.awprofessional.com/title/0321180593

The authors also have Web sites that might have code pointers and updates related to the book:
http://staff.develop.com/bobb
http://www.danal.com
http://staff.develop.com/nielsb

Pros

The book provides great in-depth discussion into the core of the new SQL Server features. The style of the content is very rich and informative, and there shouldn’t be any problem with understanding what is written because the language used is quite simple. Code examples are also good, and they demonstrate the new features nicely. All in all, the book gives a good, to-the-point view of SQL Server 2005.

There's so much information, including technical details, packed in this book that it should fill the hunger of most of people interested in SQL Server 2005.

Cons

The way book is written to be full of detailed discussion feels at some point like authors would have tried to cover everything possible about that specific feature. It seems a bit unneeded at this stage because the product is still evolving, so a realistic downside with the book is due to its large coverage of technical details. Because SQL Server 2005 is still in beta stage, it is very unlikely that there won't be changes to the product features before its release, which inevitably means that some of the book's content will be inaccurate pretty fast.

Despite all the great and detailed examples and content, the book shouldn't be read like the Bible but with a critical eye and focus on larger concepts and their impact on the reader's own software development.

Conclusion

"A First Look at SQL Server 2005 for Developers" is a great book for people who want a technical, to-the-point introduction to SQL Server 2005.



User Comments

Title: hi   
Name: mallikarjuna
Date: 2007-08-08 8:13:40 AM
Comment:
thanks for giving this book
Title: HI   
Name: shrikant
Date: 2005-07-18 5:35:56 AM
Comment:
Thanks , this book is of immense help to the develpers who r intrested in learning more about SQL SERVER.






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