Professional SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 with MDX [Paperback]

 

 

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This is my first wrox book. I'm not sure if they are all like this, or just this one.

I bought this book and began reading it with a positive outlook. The writers seem genuinely nice, and they were senior developers of the product. I liked their sense of humour, and looked forward to becoming competent at what I believe to be an excellent product.

Sadly, the book is riddled with errors--obvious errors and not-so-obvious errors. The latter, of course, are killers. Pretty well every code fragment is broken, either through typos, or because the syntax doesn't match the sample database. Thankfully, you can download code examples that have been corrected. But you can't download corrected text. The errata are scant, and the publisher ignores submissions of corrections (not just mine, but others -- see the reviews on amazon.com--the American amazon).

When I say "riddled with errors", I mean several per page, typically. It is clear that this book was not usage tested, or it was only tested on those familiar wtih SQL Server, Visual Studio, and also perhaps Analysis Services 2000. I'm new to all these, but I'm a bright enough boy. :-)

Now. If you are self-sufficient and very talented, you can puzzle your way through. I don't know SQL Server and still managed to learn the Attach command needed to complete installation of the sample database.

Also I have learned much because of errors and omissions. For example, I learned the hard way that I can't create an object in one tab (of SQL Server Management Studio) and reference it from another tab. Mind you, that took me a few hours, whereas one sentence in the book would have taught me just as well. This is one of hundreds of omissions.

By no means should you use this book to learn MDX. There was little effort to ensure that each new query contained concepts already taught. The only way to read the MDX sections is in two passes. Often something puzzling about one query was only explained a few queries later. If you want to rigourously ensure you understand each query before proceeding, well this book is not for you. Also, the authors give little advice on pros and cons of using different techniques. They will teach you several labourious methods for doing something before teaching you the easy intuitive way.

I'm on page 198 now (after 4 weeks, most evenings), and should consider cutting my losses. But for now, I'll keep working through. I look forward to "Advanced Dimension Design". On earlier similar chapters I've been able to work through the authors' lack of rigour and believe I'll be able to figure it out when the suggested tutorial actions don't work. I'll see how it goes over the next couple weeks.

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