Preface

Microsoft SQL Server is developing faster than ever in its nearly 30 years history. The newest version, SQL Server 2016, brings many important new features. Some of these new features just extend or improve features that were introduced in the previous versions of SQL Server, and some of them open a completely new set of possibilities for a database developer.

This book prepares the readers for more advanced topics by starting with a quick introduction of SQL Server 2016's new features and a recapitulation of the possibilities database developers had already in the previous versions of SQL Server. Then, the new tools are introduced. The next part introduces small delights in the Transact-SQL language, then the book switches to a completely new technology inside SQL Server—JSON support. This is where the basic chapters finish, and the more complex chapters start. Stretch database, security enhancements, and temporal tables are medium-level topics. The last chapters of the book cover advanced topics, including Query Store, columnstore indexes, and In-Memory OLTP. The final two chapters introduce R and R support in SQL Server and show how to use the R language for data exploration and analysis beyond that which a developer can achieve with Transact-SQL.

By reading this book, you will explore all of the new features added to SQL Server 2016. You will be capable of identifying opportunities for using the In-Memory OLTP technology. You will learn how to use columnstore indexes to get significant storage and performance improvements for analytical applications. You will be able to extend database design by using temporal tables. You will exchange JSON data between applications and SQL Server in a more efficient way. For vary large tables with some historical data, you will be able to migrate the historical data transparently and securely to Microsoft Azure by using Stretch Database. You will tighten security by using the new security features to encrypt data or to get more granular control over access to rows in a table. You will be able to tune workload performance more efficiently than ever with Query Store. Finally, you will discover the potential of R integration with SQL Server.