Help - Newby

[OAKEJ]

I have to learn SQL Server quickly, and I'm very new to it - virtually starting from scratch but I'm pretty good with the SQL language. What tutiorials, literature or websites would you recommend that would be helpful. Thanks

 

[ca8msm]

Books On Line


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Mark,
[URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnetlibrary.com[/url]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://mdssolutions.co.uk[/url] - Delivering professional ASP.NET solutions
[URL unfurl="true"]http://weblogs.asp.net/marksmith[/url]

 

[ca8msm]

Sorry, forgot to add the link:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms130214.aspx

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Mark,
[URL unfurl="true"]http://aspnetlibrary.com[/url]
[URL unfurl="true"]http://mdssolutions.co.uk[/url] - Delivering professional ASP.NET solutions
[URL unfurl="true"]http://weblogs.asp.net/marksmith[/url]

 

[SQLDenis]

some books I recommend

Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005: T-SQL Querying
Pro SQL Server 2005 Database Design and Optimization
The Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL
Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2005: The Storage Engine
Expert SQL Server 2005 Development

Denis The SQL Menace
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SQL Server Code,Tips and Tricks, Performance Tuning
SQLBlog.com, Google Interview Questions

 

[SQLBill]

One big thing to realize - SQL is not always SQL. The basics of SQL are the same from one product to another, but the intricacies can be different.

MS Access uses Jet SQL
Oracle uses PL/SQL, SQLPlus, and maybe other versions
MS SQL Server uses Transact-SQL (TSQL).

IIF is different in the languages. IIF in Access is comparable to CASE in SQL Server. There are other 'gotchas'. So be aware of this. Even SQL experts can be caught by the differences.

-SQLBill

The following is part of my signature block and is only intended to be informational.
Posting advice: FAQ481-4875

 

[SQLSister]

First thing is to understand database fundamentals. Here are a couple of links to help get you started

http://www.deeptraining.com/litwin/dbdesign/FundamentalsOfRelationalDatabaseDesign.aspx

http://www.somecoders.com/2006/02/explanation-of-the-different-sql-joins/

Also read the FAQs here, that will help you start to understand the complexity.

While learning you will run across two things that you should avoid at all costs: cursors (or loops) and Dynamic SQL. Cursors are horrible for performance. There is almost always a set-based solution that will work much faster. Dynamic SQl has performance and security issues. Read this link to understand why using it is not a great idea.

http://www.sommarskog.se/dynamic_sql.html

"NOTHING is more important in a database than integrity." ESquared