Mastering SQL Server® 2008

Introduction

Database technology is constantly evolving. The interplay among major database vendors such as Microsoft and Oracle, as well as the inevitable pressure of the open-source community, has demanded that database systems continue to push forward in both features and scalability. This fact means that the everyday database professional is constantly in a "catch up" mode. This book is an attempt to simplify that process by distilling the flood of information available.

The very nature of a book like this, where the subject matter is so broad, is to ensure that the important points get included, but we can't possibly include everything that SQL Server 2008 supports. In fact, the authors had numerous long conversations, not about what we ...