1
SSMS Setup: Requires downloading both SQL Server Management Studio and a database server instance like SQL Server Express to connect and run queries.
2
Table Creation: Use the CREATE TABLE statement specifying column names and data types (e.g., INT, VARCHAR(50)).
3
Data Insertion: Use INSERT INTO table_name VALUES (...) to populate tables with rows of data.
4
SELECT & FROM: The SELECT statement determines which columns to retrieve using wildcards (*) or specific names, while FROM specifies the database and table source.
5
Aggregate Functions: Functions like COUNT, MAX, MIN, and AVG help summarize data. The AS keyword can be used to alias derived column names.
6
WHERE Statement: Filters rows based on conditions using operators like equals (=), does not equal (<>), greater than (>), less than (<), AND, and OR.
7
LIKE Operator & Wildcards: Used primarily with text data to search for patterns. The percent sign (%) acts as a wildcard to match sequences of characters.