This book is an update of an earlier version that was written for SQL Server 2000. It employs the Murach approach of dual pages that repeat and enhance the concepts being presented on each page. If you're new to SQL Server 2005 you'll gain a lot from this book. It has three goals: to teach T-SQL (Transact SQL), introduce you to the new .NET CLR integration, and introduce you to the new graphical user interface called SQL Server Management Studio that replaces the enterprise manager and query analyzer that were part of the SQL Server 2000 package of software tools. The authors do a really good job of covering the basics of this new interface. They also provide handy appendices to show you how to install the software required by this book as well as how to install the sample databases and files.

If you've worked with T-SQL in SQL Server 2000, you'll see that few new features have been added to T-SQL. The new things are, however, very helpful. They include ranking functions and common table expressions. The common table expression is a powerful tool that provides a user with the ability to create a temporary view within his or her T-SQL query. In fact, the combination of the row number function and a common table expression can allow the developer to delete duplicate records in a database table, which was quite difficult to do in earlier versions of SQL Server.