Book Image

SQL Server 2017 Developer's Guide

Book Image

SQL Server 2017 Developer's Guide

Overview of this book

Microsoft SQL Server 2017 is a milestone in Microsoft's data platform timeline, as it brings in the power of R and Python for machine learning and containerization-based deployment on Windows and Linux. This book prepares you for advanced topics by starting with a quick introduction to SQL Server 2017's new features. Then, it introduces you to enhancements in the Transact-SQL language and new database engine capabilities before switching to a different technology: JSON support. You will take a look at the security enhancements and temporal tables. Furthermore, the book focuses on implementing advanced topics, including Query Store, columnstore indexes, and In-Memory OLTP. Toward the end of the book, you'll be introduced to R and how to use the R language with Transact-SQL for data exploration and analysis. You'll also learn to integrate Python code into SQL Server and graph database implementations as well as the deployment options on Linux and SQL Server in containers for development and testing. By the end of this book, you will be armed to design efficient, high-performance database applications without any hassle.
Table of Contents (25 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Introduction to SQL Server 2017
Index

Chapter 2. Review of SQL Server Features for Developers

Before delving into the new features in SQL Server 2016 and 2017, let's have a quick recapitulation of the SQL Server features for developers that are already available in the previous versions of SQL Server. Please note that this chapter is not a comprehensive development guide; covering all features would be out of the scope of this book. Recapitulating the most important features will help you remember what you already have in your development toolbox, and also understand the need for and the benefits of the new or improved features in SQL Server 2016 and 2017.

Note

This chapter has a lot of code. As this is not a book for beginners, the intention of this chapter is not to teach you the basics of database development. It is rather a reminder for the powerful and efficient Transact-SQL (T-SQL) and other elements included in SQL Server version 2014 and even earlier.

The recapitulation starts with the mighty T-SQL SELECT statement. Besides...