Audience and Coverage

A book like this can be used in an "Introduction to Databases" course or a second database course along with textbooks like Fundamentals of Database Systems, 4th Edition, Addison Wesley, 2003 (Elmasri and Navathe), and Database Processing, Fundamentals, Design & Implementation, 9th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2003 (David Kroenke). Students could learn the database theory from the texts, and apply the theory using this book (using SQL Server) as they learn SQL.

This book can also be used as a standalone text in a course on learning SQL using SQL Server 2005. This book does not assume any prior computer knowledge.

This book consists of 11 chapters. Chapter 1 introduces the user to SQL Server 2005. In Chapter 1, you will learn how to open SQL Server using SQL Server Management Studio, load the database, and view and perform simple table manipulations. Chapter 1 also introduces the user to the query editor; shows you how to view, save, and print queries and output; and how to customize SQL Server's settings. Chapter 2 introduces the user/learner to some basic SQL commands in SQL Server. Chapter 3 discusses creating, populating, altering, and deleting tables; an example relational database is built on the idea of tabular data. Chapter 4 introduces and covers different types of joinsa common database mechanism for combining tables. Chapter 5 covers SQL Server's functions. Chapter 6 discusses query development as well as the use of views and other derived structures. Chapter 7 covers simple set operations. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 cover subqueries, aggregate functions, and correlated subqueries; and Chapter 11 presents indexes and constraints that can be added to tables in SQL Server .

Appendix A describes the Student_course database and other databases that have been used throughout the book. Appendix B provides the actual script used to create the Student_course database. Glossaries defining terms and important functions are provided, as well as indexes of terms and functions in the book.

The book is sufficient for beginning SQL users to get an overview of what SQL Server entails and how to use SQL. Many SQL programmers have based their employment on this material. The book gives a very good feel for what SQL is, and how SQL is used in SQL Server.