Skip to main content

Introduction to SQL Server

Become proficient at using SQL Server to perform common data manipulation tasks.

Start Course for Free
4 Hours13 Videos46 Exercises85,143 Learners
3850 XP

Create Your Free Account

GoogleLinkedInFacebook

or

By continuing, you accept our Terms of Use, our Privacy Policy and that your data is stored in the USA. You confirm you are at least 16 years old (13 if you are an authorized Classrooms user).

Loved by learners at thousands of companies

Course Description

SQL is an essential skill for data scientists, and Microsoft SQL Server is one of the world's most popular database systems. In this course, you'll start with simple SELECT statements, and refine these queries with ORDER BY and WHERE clauses. You'll learn how to group and aggregate your results, and also how to work with strings. You'll also cover the most common way to join tables, how to create tables, and inserting and updating data. You'll mainly work with the Chinook digital media database, representing sales of various artists and tracks. The music theme continues with the classic rock and Eurovision datasets, while we also look at trends in power outages in the US. Overall, you'll become proficient in the most common data manipulation tasks in SQL Server and build a solid foundation for the upcoming T-SQL courses here on DataCamp!

  1. 1

    SELECTion Box

    Free

    Hit the ground running by learning the basics of SELECT statements to retrieve data from one or more columns. You'll also learn how to apply filters to both numeric and text data, and sort the results.

    Play Chapter Now
    Welcome
    50 xp
    Simple selections
    100 xp
    More selections
    100 xp
    Ordering and filtering
    50 xp
    Order by
    100 xp
    Where
    100 xp
    Where again
    100 xp
    Working with NULL values
    100 xp
    WHERE the wild things are
    50 xp
    Exploring classic rock songs
    100 xp
    Exploring classic rock songs - AND/OR
    100 xp
    Using parentheses in your queries
    100 xp
  2. 2

    Groups, strings, and counting things

    Herein, you'll learn how to use important SQL Server aggregate functions such as SUM, COUNT, MIN, MAX, and AVG. Following that, you'll learn how to manipulate text fields. To round out the chapter, you'll power up your queries using GROUP BY and HAVING, which will enable you to perform more meaningful aggregations.

    Play Chapter Now
    Aggregating Data
    50 xp
    Summing
    100 xp
    Counting
    100 xp
    MIN, MAX and AVG
    100 xp
    Strings
    50 xp
    LEN'gth of a string
    100 xp
    Left and right
    100 xp
    Stuck in the middle with you
    100 xp
    Grouping and Having
    50 xp
    GROUP BY
    100 xp
    Having
    100 xp
    Grouping together
    100 xp
  3. 3

    Joining tables

    This chapter covers the basics of joining tables, using INNER, LEFT, and RIGHT joins, so that you can confidently retrieve data from multiple sources.

    Play Chapter Now
    Joining tables
    50 xp
    Inner Joins - a perfect match
    100 xp
    Inner Joins (II)
    100 xp
    Inner Join (III) - Join 3 tables
    100 xp
    LEFT & RIGHT JOIN
    50 xp
    LEFT join
    100 xp
    RIGHT JOIN
    100 xp
    UNION & UNION ALL
    50 xp
    UNION ALL Check
    50 xp
    Join the UNION
    100 xp
  4. 4

    You've got the power

    In this final chapter, you'll get really hands on! You've worked with existing tables, but in this chapter, you'll get to CREATE and INSERT data into them. You'll also UPDATE existing records and practice DELETE statements in a safe environment. This chapter ensures the course gives you a thorough introduction to the key aspects of working with data in SQL Server.

    Play Chapter Now
    Creator
    50 xp
    CRUD operations
    50 xp
    Create tables
    100 xp
    Insert, Update, Delete
    50 xp
    Insert
    100 xp
    Update
    100 xp
    Delete
    100 xp
    Declare yourself
    50 xp
    DECLARE and SET a variable
    100 xp
    Declare multiple variables
    100 xp
    Ultimate Power
    100 xp
    Congratulations!
    50 xp

In the following tracks

Data AnalystSQL Server Fundamentals

Datasets

Eurovision Song ContestPower outages in USAClassic rock radio station songsChinook Database

Collaborators

Yashas RoyMona Khalil
John MacKintosh Headshot

John MacKintosh

Data Manager

I work in the UK healthcare sector. I was introduced to SQL and SQL Server in 2010. My course aims to help those who are coming from spreadsheets, or who are otherwise new to SQL Server, to get up to speed quickly, so they too can become more effective in their roles.
See More

What do other learners have to say?

“I've used other sites—Coursera, Udacity, things like that—but DataCamp's been the one that I've stuck with.”

Devon Edwards Joseph
Lloyds Banking Group

“DataCamp is the top resource I recommend for learning data science.”

Louis Maiden
Harvard Business School

“DataCamp is by far my favorite website to learn from.”

Ronald Bowers
Decision Science Analytics, USAA