Introduction

One of the powerful features of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is that it enables you to write scripts and batches to manipulate data. The aspect of SQL Server that provides this functionality is the Transact-SQL language. Transact-SQL (T-SQL) is an extension of ANSI standard SQL, and includes features like conditional execution constructs ( IF...THEN ), looping constructs ( WHILE ), and cursor functionality. These features combine to make T-SQL a limited yet fairly powerful tool. This chapter covers the features found in T-SQL that make it a true scripting language. Only a few exam objectives are directly related to this chapter, but the chapter covers a lot of foundational material that you need if you're going to understand the objectives here and the objectives in later chapters, especially Chapter 9, "Stored Procedures and User-Defined Functions."