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Introducing SQL Server is a fast and easy introduction to SQL Server and the world of relational databases. You´ll learn how databases work and how to use the T-SQL language by practicing on one of the most widely-used and powerful database engines in the corporate world: Microsoft SQL Server.

Do you quake at the sight of a SELECT statement? Start to shiver when people start talking about tables and rows? Fear not, Introducing SQL Server is here to rescue you. The book focuses on the knowledge and skills needed to begin your journey toward becoming a solid and competent SQL Server professional and database programmer. You´ll learn the core concepts of SQL Server, from installing the software to executing and profiling queries.

Introducing SQL Server is aimed at SQL Server newcomers as well as at those wanting to improve their database skills. You´ll put a comprehensive database together as you work through the book. You will create tables and learn to use constraints; create reusable functions and stored procedures; and even learn how indexes work and what they bring in terms of increased performance. Introducing SQL Server shows you that databases don´t need to be difficult.

- Teaches you how to build a SQL Server database from scratch
- Takes a tutorial-based approach, with each chapter building on the last
- Covers what you need to know for common SQL Server development tasks

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Chapter 1: What is SQL Server?

Chapter 2: Obtaining and Installing SQL Server

Chapter 3: Database Basics

Chapter 4: Tables

Chapter 5: Putting Good Tables Together

Chapter 6: Automating Deployment with SQLCMD

Chapter 7: NULLs and Table Constraints

Chapter 8: Inserts, Updates, and Deletes

Chapter 9: Bulk Inserting Data

Chapter 10: Creating Data Import Scripts

Chapter 11: The SELECT Statement

Chapter 12: Joining Tables

Chapter 13: Views

Chapter 14: Indexes

Chapter 15: Transactions

Chapter 16: Functions

Chapter 17: Table-Valued Functions

Chapter 18: Stored Procedures - Part 1

Chapter 19: Stored Procedures - Part 2

Chapter 20: Bits and Pieces

Appendix A: SQL Data Types

Appendix B: Glossary

Appendix C: Common SQL Server System Objects

Appendix D: Exercises

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Mike McQuillan is a software and database specialist who lives with his wife and daughter in the United Kingdom. Mike is a polyglot programmer who began messing around with computers in the 1980s, firstly with an Atari 800XL and then a Sinclair Spectrum. He took up databases in the 1990s, and quickly fell in love with SQL. He´s been working with SQL Server since version 7, and is a SQL Server MCSA. When he´s not tinkering with computers, Mike enjoys taking the family on walks around Cheshire with the family pups, Dolly and Bertie.

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