We continue looking at functions (http://www.techonthenet.com/sql_server/functions/index_alpha.php) as well as datatypes (http://www.techonthenet.com/sql/datatypes.php; https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187752.aspx; https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187752(v=sql.105).aspx).

Download the notes for day two.

We changed the name of the course a little bit in order to prepare students for certification exam 98-364.

You can download the notes for day one covering part of the first section of the Exam 98-364 MTA Database Administration Fundamentals book (ISBN 9780470889169).

Class notes for 2016/02/09
Class notes for 2016/02/11
Class notes for 2016/02/16
Class notes for 2016/02/18
Class notes for 2016/02/09: Importing flat file into SQL Server
Class notes for 2016/02/23
Class notes for 2016/02/25
Class notes for 2016/03/01
Class notes for 2016/03/01: Vocabulary
Class notes for 2016/03/03
Class notes for 2016/03/08
Class notes for 2016/03/10

We have reached the end of the SQL journey. I hope you enjoyed it.

Download the class notes for day ten.

We are almost at the end of the course. Download the notes for day nine.

We have now covered normalization — in other words how to clean up a relational database to make it faster and avoid redundancy of data that may cause errors in the long run.

A relational database is a collection of data items organized as a set of formally-described tables from which data can be accessed or reassembled in many different ways without having to reorganize the database tables. The relational database was invented by E. F. Codd at IBM in 1970.
http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/definition/relational-database

In creating a database, normalization is the progress of organizing it into tables in such a way that the results of using the database are always unambiguous and as intended. Normalization may have the effect of duplicating data within the database and often results in the creation of additional tables. (While normalization tends to increase the duplication of data, it does not introduce redundancy, which is unnecessary duplication.) Normalization is typically a refinement progress after the initial exercise of identifying the data objects that should be in the database, identifying their relationships, and defining the tables required and the columns within each table.
http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/definition/normalization

Download one and two for day eight.

This is a review of the first pop quiz #1 or “practice” as you would prefer calling it. So far we have covered how to make queries, TABLEs, UNIONs, VIEWs, UPDATEs and how to ALTER data objects as well as its types.

Download part one and two of the answers.

We have now covered VIEWs and how to ALTER database objects.

Download the class notes for day four and the tutorial importing flat file into SQL Server.

So far, we have covered how to query tables (SELECT [field(s)] FROM [table(s)]), JOIN them, CREATE them, TRUNCATE them and even DROP them. Now we can really start having fun!

Download the class notes for day three.

Download the class notes for day two.