The world has changed. Azure SQL and SQL Server too
Azure SQL is really not the database you may think it is. 15 Nov 2019
Just like Microsoft, that the in last decade has gone through an amazing change and became a modern company, Azure SQL and it’s relative SQL Server went through an amazing set of changes that may be not known to those who stopped looking at it in the past as per the “the relational model is old” idea. It’s time to revisit that.
I don’t personally think that the relational model is “old”…honestly it just doesn’t make sense to use that word with a mathematical concept (as, I’m sure you know, that’s exactly what the relational model is). For example: is the addition operation old? Is division something of the past? Not sure even what that could mean. It is math, aging doesn’t apply. So given that the relational model is here to stay, we should ask ourselves if the current implementation is getting better over time and if there is something more that we can add to it, to extend its capabilities.
A developer with good SQL knowledge is like a superhero with superpowers
It turns out that, yes, there’s a lot of thing we could do to improve and extend a database with an incredible long history. And we did. Azure SQL is really something more that “just” a relational database today. If 20 years ago Azure SQL (well, at that point in time it wasn’t even born, so think to its dad, SQL Server) was a calculator, today’s Azure SQL is definitely a Surface Studio: versatile, powerful and, to a certain degree, unexpected.
Unexpected because there’s so much stuff in it that one can easily get lost, especially if s/he never used a database before. For this reason I created this little masterpiece (at least for my very low drawing capabilities) of art:
If you want to go a little bit more in details to learn how each one of the mentioned feature can help you in becoming a better, great, developer, start from here:
10 Reasons why Azure SQL is the Best Database for Developers
And then keep following me here or on Tech Community as I’ll discuss each feature in detail in future.
You’ll be amazed to see how learning SQL can be your secret superpower!