In summary, if you are a pretty experienced functional person (I am a consultant), are motivated enough to invest the time to learn SQR, and have access to the tool, this may be a good choice. Certainly more information (understandably) than you can get from a five-day SQR class.

2 of 2 found the following review helpful:

*The* standard reference on SQR  Aug 26, 2002
Aside from the fact that there is no other book that teaches SQR, this book is unique and valuable for following reasons:

- It teaches good programming practices. Anyone who has developed in any procedural language (including scripting and query languages) can quickly learn SQR. Therein lies a problem that this book overcomes: the excellent advice given about program development and structure can offset bad habits picked up in other languages.

- It's a definitive resource for SQR developers. Although SQR is relatively easy to learn, it's also rich with features missing from most other languages, such as complete control over printed and screen output, built-in constructs for graphs and charts, and multiple output file formats. Using many of these features not easy for beginners or programmers more used to other languages, but this book shows by example how to exploit every feature SQR has to offer.

- It dispels the common notion that SQR is a PeopleSoft-only tool. In fact, PeopleSoft doesn't own the language, and SQR will work in any database environment. More important, the book shows how to develop application and database independent programs that will work in any environment. This is an awakening for those who are going down proprietary paths, such as standardizing on Oracle's PL/SQL. While PL/SQL itself a powerful language, but is limited to Oracle - migrating from Oracle to, say, DB2 requires that all PL/SQL programs be scrapped. Had the applications and reports been developed in SQR the only changes would be to tables referenced.

In addition to the above, this book also provides good practices for forming SQL queries and understanding how a poorly formed join can make the difference between a resource hog and an unintrusive application. Since SQL, like SQR, is easy to learn many developers take the path of least resistance and develop queries with no thought on their effect on production systems. This book gives sound advice for avoiding that mistake.

The section on PeopleSoft, while out of date with respect to version 8, still contains valuable information for the majority of SQR developers whose exposure to SQR is via PeopleSoft.

There is something for everyone in this book - beginners can learn SQR the right way, and seasoned developers will have a ready reference that covers almost every facet of SQR in practical terms. If your job is primarily SQR development I also recommend that you also get a copy of "SQR Programmer Reference" by Don Mellen (ISBN 0967773008) as a quick reference to the features and nuances of SQR.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:

Holy Smokes  Apr 26, 2002
You need this book if you are going to write SQR(s). However, you won't use it much with PS 8. You'll use App Engine.

10 of 10 found the following review helpful:

Great !!  Nov 02, 2001
I was working on a problem a couple of years ago and took the suggestion of a co-worker to buy this book. For the last two years I have been using it as a reference. I spent a few months off and came back and embaressed myself puting a report in process scheduler. So I sat down and read the book front to back. I wish I had done this a couple of years ago.

I have been working with SQR for five years. I have used examples and the SQR manuals to accomplish what I wanted. This work provided me with a lot of knowledge that I had never taken the time to pick up. Now even if I take the time off and need a refresher the sections are highlighted.

I have found this book very useful as both a reference and a knoweldge builder. Also, the writing style was good enough that rereading the portions that I was alread aware of was not too irksome. Interestingly, I could swear some of the interview questions I have been asked came right out of this book.