Fast Track to Mdx [Paperback]

In general, Fast Track is seen as the introductory book, Solutions as the expert's book. So I nearly skipped Fast Track and went directly to Solutions; I am so glad I didn't.

Fast Track is certainly the book to buy if you are new to MDX. It does a great job of introducing the language, it is excellently written by a set of true craftspeople - it is highly readable and, heaven help us, at times it is even amusing. This isn't like reading a text book, it is like sitting down with the guys who wrote it and having them tell you how MDX works.

Solutions is much less readable - we are talking about a typically stodgy reference book. But it does have a massive amount of information and that information is accurate and therefore highly useful.

So the easy answer is to buy both books, learn the basics from Fast Track and then use Solutions as a reference. And that is all I was initially going to write as my review. But I glanced back through Fast Track before I did so, looking back at it now as someone who now understands the language. And I was amazed at the amount of information that these guys cover. For example, MDX has about 150 functions in all, and Fast Track covers about 50 of them. Since they have carefully chosen the most commonly used ones, by the end of the book, you are familiar with most of the functions that you will ever need. And even better, you have enough background information to be able to understand the rest by reading the help system.

In addition they cover queries, expressions, calculated members, moving averages, distinct count, filters, colour coding, navigating the hierarchy, parent-child dimensions, member properties, security, the list goes on and on.

So, this is an introductory book in the sense that it assumes that you know nothing about MDX and introduces it gently. What is so subtle about the book is that it makes learning so easy, such fun, that you simply don't notice how much information these guys are pumping into your brain. Remember that Mosha Pasumansky invented MDX and he is one of the authors. He really does know what you really need in order to get started and up to speed.

So I still go with the notion that you need both books. Solutions is still a great reference book, but whatever else you do, start with Fast Track. In terms of useful information per unit cost, this is by far and away the best technical book I have ever read.

"what do I want to do?" and end up with the line of code. I like this style. I prefer to learn how to tackle a problem than buying a book with a long list of solutions.

The latter chapters introduce you to the advanced concepts and features, again with good examples.

The book doesn't tell you how to sit down at SQL analysis services or Cognos Transformer and create a cube. It doesn't teach you to be a master of any of the OLAP clients.

It does give you a basic understanding of how OLAP servers and clients work and, if you understand what is under the hood, you can see how to tackle your own problems, start to build your own solutions and get more from your data.

This is not one of those big, every function and every option reference books.

This is a very readable book that will help you understand the subject.

TC