Querying Microsoft SQL Server Courseware (55317AC)

This three-day course provides an in-depth exploration into querying SQL Server databases, beginning with the fundamentals and progressing into more advanced topics. The course introduces students to SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and Azure Data Studio, which are both essential tools for querying SQL Server databases.

The early part of the course focuses on learning to use these tools effectively and efficiently, including running and managing scripts within each environment. The course then transitions into the basics of SQL itself, including how to write SELECT statements and manipulate table columns and rows.

As the course progresses, the complexity of SQL queries also increases. Topics covered include advanced SELECT statements, how to query multiple tables using unions and joins, working with subqueries, utilizing Common Table Expressions (CTEs), and techniques for grouping data.

Performance optimization becomes a focal point in the latter half of the course, with lessons on identifying and rectifying performance issues, modifying tables and queries for increased efficiency, and the effective use of indexes.

The course also provides comprehensive insights into Data Modification Language (DML), teaching students how to add, change or delete data using INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements. Handling of XML and JSON data within a SQL Server database is another key component of the course, with lessons on storing and querying XML and JSON records and converting records into these formats.

Toward the end of the course, students get a chance to work with stored procedures and functions, both built-in and user-created, offering a more programmatic approach to SQL. This theme is further explored with lessons on querying SQL Server using non-SQL languages such as sqlcmd, PowerShell, and Python.

Finally, the course concludes with a module on managing external data sources, teaching students how to establish permanent connections to these sources using Linked Servers and PolyBase.