Written with clarity and a down-to-earth approach, Sams Teach Yourself SQL Server 2005 Express in 24 Hours covers the basics of Microsoft's latest version of SQL Server. Expert author Alison Balter takes you from basic concepts to an intermediate level in 24 one-hour lessons. You will learn all of the basic tasks necessary for the administration of SQL Server 2005. You will also learn how to write and fully utilize:

• SQL Server stored procedures

• Functions

• Triggers using T-SQL, VB.NET, and C#

You will also learn how to output SQL Server data to reports and the Internet. Sams Teach Yourself SQL Server 2005 Express in 24 Hours is a well-organized, authoritative introduction that will quickly have you up and running with SQL Server 2005.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 10 Ratings

Don't bother looking at this book. - 2007-10-25
Reviewer Rating:
I would not recommend this book to anyone. It pontificates in a grandiose manner, assuming you'll be impressed by the big words even though they say nothing. If you are looking for a tutorial, this book does not walk you through the processes and sometimes even leads you astray without explaining or helping you through the errors. It doesn't even tell you when you're working in a different database or where to go to get that database so you can continue to follow along. It's not even useful as a reference book. It will tell you a command and if the command requires a code, it just says you need a code. When we did an internet search to find out more about the code, it was explained in one line. Would it have made the book too long to add one more sentence? As someone new to SQL, I found this book to be a complete waste of money and time.

I agree with all the poor ratings listed here - I had not read them before because I bought the book as part of a group at work where we would all be learning together. We are all programmers in other disciplines and most dropped out of the class because this book is so bad. It's funny how some of the good ratings here have to explain how you get around the problems so you can learn from the book - DOES THAT TELL YOU SOMETHING???

something's gone awry with this one - 2007-08-28
Reviewer Rating:
I agree with the previous reviewer who said that this book does not reflect typical SAMS quality. I'm reading Ben Forta's "MySQL Crash Course" (also by SAMS) at the same time, and the difference is night and day. The first 100 pages of this "Teach Yourself" book do not even employ any actual databases... it's all just dry abstract instruction: "If you want to do this... then do this... if you want to do this... then do this..." Besides being unreadable from sheer bone dryness, without any examples it's almost impossible to figure out why or when you'd want to do any of these things. These first 100 pages literally read like they were copied out of Microsoft's online-help. In Chapter 6 the author first introduces a sample database (Northwind), so I'm hoping things will improve somewhat, but I'm not too optimistic with this one.

Started off okay then just went downhill - 2007-11-21
Reviewer Rating:
I brought this book because my work wanted me to learn more about SQL server. The book started off quite well i thought for the first 3 hours but then about the 4th hour there where no examples. I would of thought they could of thrown a few exmaple databases on the CD to go along with.

Unfortunately for me i am a hands-on person when it comes to learning, i have to walk along with a tutorial of some sort to understand what im doing rather than just reading about something. They give all the screenshots in the book but really I needed a real working database to work with.

In the section on 'Adding and Modifying Indexes', it's almost like the author was teaching a different level. At one point it says select clustered to designate the index as clustered, but then doesn't even explain what a clustered index is.

The other thing i noticed was that if you search in google under, 'Adding and Modifying Indexes', it pulls up a link to Alison Balter's Mastering Access 2002 Enterprise Development. The text for this section is identical to the section for this book. So it was not even re-written text, it was the same text copied from one of her previous books.

Hopefully someone on here will recommend something a bit more suited for the beginner.

Not What I Expected - 2008-04-07
Reviewer Rating:
Like others who have reviewed this book, I also found it not to be the typical quality of SAMS books. Usually I can pick up a SAMS book on a subject without examining it thoroughly beforehand and while reading it, be satisfied that it provides me with what I wanted. This book is far from that.

Attempting to decide if this book is for beginners or for experienced users was a dilemma. The book presents information as though it was intended for beginners, but during the discussions it uses terms and makes implied assumptions only a more advanced user would be aware of. The entire book follows this template. I could see how a true beginner would quickly become frustrated trying to learn the subjects presented in this book because there is little depth to the explanations. Difficult subjects such as SQL, Joins, Normalization, Relationships and others that may take a significant portions of chapters in a good book only occupy a few sentences or a small paragraph or two here. The reader would have to be already knowledgeable about many of the aspects of the information discussed to fully understand what is presented.

As an experienced developer wanting to get acquainted with SQL Server Express, this book did have some value for me. Because I already understood the concepts, this book allowed me to see how they fit into SQL Server and allowed me to become acquainted with it. Even at this the book did less than well, but I would say this is the greatest value of the book. Much of what I learned to interface with the development environment I had to learn as a necessity by experimenting, not from the book. If I were a beginner I would have been lost.

The book contains many full screen shots, which can be a plus. The screen shots reduce the reading material by about 25% from what it appears to be from looking at the size of the book.

Again, beginners will be frustrated with this book and advanced users will find little if anything of value in it. The only audience I see finding value in this book will be those who have experience with some other database and wants to learn to apply their experience using SQL Server Express. Still the experienced reader will have to wade through the book's inadequate attempts to instruct the basics and the reader will be without in-depth explanations of using SQL Server Express.

Very good book for beginners - 2009-06-07
Reviewer Rating:
To learn a topic I usually read the Dummies version and then try it. Well, in this case, Dummies was just not right for me. I briefly tried Apress and Wrox but, as usual, they were too intense. I especially don't like their small print. Sam's is usually my last choice. In this case it was my best choice. The book covered SQL Server Express in a logical, easy-to-understand way. All the information you need to use SQL Express is in the book. The author was thorough but not overly technical. I enjoyed the book. I supplemented the book by using my Apress book as a technical resource.

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