Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Programming

This book is written for SQL Server 2008. However, it doesmaintain roots going back a few versions and looks out for backwardcompatibility issues with SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000.These versions are old enough that there is little to no time spenton them except in passing.
The book is oriented around developing on SQL server. Most ofthe concepts are agnostic to what client language you use althoughthe examples that leverage a client language general do so in C#.For those who are migrating from early versions of SQL Server, some"gotchas" that exist any time a product has versionsare discussed to the extent that they seem to be a genuinelyrelevant issue.
This book assumes that you have some experience with SQL Serverand are at an intermediate to advanced level. The orientation ofthe book is highly developer focused. While there is a quickreference-oriented appendix, there is very little coverage given tobeginner level topics. It is assumed that you already haveexperience with data manipulation language (DML) statements andknow the basics of the mainstream SQL Server objects (views, storedprocedures, user defined functions, etc.). If you would like tobrush up on your knowledge before diving into this book, the authorrecommends reading Beginning SQL Server 2008 Programmingfirst. There is very little overlap between the Beginning andProfessional books and they are designed to work as a pair.