The purpose of this book is to help you get started and set up your environment so that you
have everything you need to get the most out of this book.
You can run all of the code samples in this book on an on-premises installation of Microsoft SQL
Server—box flavor—and most of the examples on Windows Azure SQL Database (formerly called SQL
Azure)—cloud flavor. For details about the differences between the flavors, see the section “The ABC
Flavors of SQL Server†in Chapter 1, “Background to T-SQL Querying and Programming.â€
The first section, “Getting Started with SQL Database,†provides a link to the website where you
can find the information you need to get started with SQL Database.
The second section, “Installing an On-Premises Installation of SQL Server,†assumes that you want
to connect to an on-premises instance of SQL Server to run the code samples in this book, and that
you don’t have an instance to connect to already. This section walks you through the installation
process
for a SQL Server 2012 instance. If you already have an instance of SQL Server to connect to,
feel free to skip the first section.
The third section, “Downloading Source Code and Installing the Sample Database,†points you to
the website where you can get the downloadable source code for the book and provides instructions
for installing the book’s sample database on both an on-premises SQL Server instance and SQL
Database.
The fourth section, “Working with SQL Server Management Studio,†explains how to develop and
execute T-SQL code in SQL Server by using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
The last section, “Working with SQL Server Books Online,†describes SQL Server Books Online and
explains its importance in helping you get information about T-SQL.
