From: genew@ocis.net   
      
   On Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:36:51 +0200, Erland Sommarskog   
    wrote:   
      
   >Gene Wirchenko (genew@ocis.net) writes:   
   >>      For a software product this complex, there really should be a   
   >> serious getting started guide, and it should be prominent so any   
   >> newbie can see it.   
   >   
   >I'm afraid to make you disappointed, but that it's an impossible idea.   
      
        No, it is not.   
      
   >SQL Server is a very vast product, and there are quite a few different   
   >ways you can approach it. Will you develop for it? Will write applications   
   >for it? What kind of applications? Will you work with BI solutions,   
   >ETL? Reports? Or just plain-old-simple registration applications? Or   
   >are you to become an DBA and only work with administration? There is   
   >simply not one getting-started track.   
      
        I did not say that there was. Maybe, that could be the first   
   answer.  Start with your paragraph and then add 'If you are planning   
   to develop with Microsoft SQL Server, then see the section/manual   
   "Microsoft SQL Server - Getting Started - for Developers"' and so on.   
      
        The very complexity of the product argues for good orienting   
   documentation.   
      
   >And that is also why the answers you have gotten here have not been   
   >very useful. Your question is just too open-ended. In another newsgroup   
      
        I do not know much about SQL Server yet.  That includes which   
   questions I need to ask.  Why do you insist on making it difficult?   
      
        My boss has decided to go with SQL Server.  Had I my choice, I   
   would pick the first decent product with decent documentation.  I   
   would examine products and if I could not figure out how to make it   
   go, I would toss it.  If I could, then I would check it out.   
      
   >I understand that you have a background in FoxPro. This means, I guess,   
   >that you have some knowledge about tables and SQL. That's certainly   
   >a head start compared with someone who just walked in from the street.   
      
        But I have no idea how to make SQL Server work.  Yet.   
      
   >I suggest that you browse Amazon or your local books store for SQL books and   
   >see what might fit your current level of knowledge. The one book I   
   >can recommend on the top of my head is Itzik Ben-Gan's "Transact-SQL   
   >Fundamentals".   
      
        I have no idea whether that book would work for me.  What is   
   "Transact-SQL"?   
      
        That is the level of knowledge that I have of SQL Server: next to   
   none.   
      
   >Or just take your CREATE TABLE scripts for FoxPro and your queries   
   >and start playing. I don't know much about FoxPro, but there are   
   >probably differences in the SQL dialects, so not everything will   
   >work, but this is where Itzik book may help you.   
      
        There are.  I really am trying to get there.  As I write this, I   
   am downloading a massive manual or manuals from Microsoft on SQL   
   Server.  I am using -- trying to use -- SQL Express.  I hope the   
   manual will work for me and that the differences between the two will   
   not bite too hard.   
      
   Sincerely,   
      
   Gene Wirchenko   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)