[AccessD] SQL server learning

You can download all the basics free (the Express versions) from Microsoft.
They don't handle large databases or datasets but other than that they give
you everything you'll need to learn.

I consider myself a SQL expert but it took years to arrive there. A
previous poster suggested using the Access Query Builder to learn. I
disagree, for two reasons: a) Access has a bunch of "features" that are not
portable to other versions of SQL; b) Access restricts you to one
relationship diagram, which is fine for small databases but totally
impractical for rich databases (oh, I need to introduce a couple of terms
here -- Large and Rich. Large databases contain relatively few tables but
millions of rows in the principal tables. Rich databases contain many
tables with relatively few rows in them. I have worked on several projects
of the Rich variety -- 500 tables or so. In those cases, the Access
relationships modeller is woefully inadequate, whereas SSMS is fully up to
the challenge, since it enables you to create numerous relationship
diagrams, each devoted to a particular subset of the tables in the database.

Another thing worth considering is the cost of MS SQL; Your potential
employer(s) have already bitten the bullet, and you can learn everything
you need to know using the express editions, but MS SQL is not the only
player in town, and it also has "features" that do not conform to the
standard. Also, there are numerous potential clients, such as non-profits,
that genuinely need an RDMS but cannot afford MS SQL, and in these cases
MySQL and MariaDB are excellent alternatives. Both are downloadable for
free.

Finally, learning SQL is much simpler than learning another human language.
I'm trying to learn Mandarin, and believe me, it's way more difficult than
learning SQL. In SQL there are only about 12 statements and some predicates
such as the WHERE clauses, which can get tricky, admittedly. But after
wrestling a few pigs to the ground, you'll quickly find that large pigs
fall almost as easily as piglets.

I would be remiss without mentioning a couple of splendid and free tools
available from Bullzip -- MS Access to MSSQL and MS Access to MySQL. These
tools enable you to migrate an Access database to their respective targets,
and handle all the mismatches (such as Yes/No fields to Boolean columns). I
do a lot of work for non-profits and the Bullzip tools have served me very
well. To grab their stuff, visit http://www.bullzip.com/download.php.

Arthur
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