A Brief Introduction to Transact-SQL

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Transact-SQL is Microsoft’s and Sybase’s proprietary extension to the conventional SQL (structured query language). Transact-SQL is sometimes abbreviated as T-SQL. This enhancement brought procedural programming language functionalities, such as local variables, control-of-flow constructs, and additional functions for various needs.

The purpose of this two-part article is to give a brief overview on the usage of T-SQL. If you are already familiar with any SQL flavor, whether it's MySQL, Oracle, or perhaps SQL-92, that’s a huge benefit. However, throughout this article I will assume that you have at least some knowledge regarding relational databases.

We’re going to cover the following programming concepts:

• Usage of variables (data types, etc.)
  

• Conditional statements (IF…ELSE, BEGIN…END)
  

• Usage of CASE command
  

• Usage of WHILE loops
  

• CONTINUE command
  

• BREAK command
  

• GOTO command
  

• RETURN command
  

• WAITFOR command
  

• Usage of cursors
  

• Usage of functions
  

• Creating functions of your own

Now that I’ve given you a sense of what to expect, let’s begin!

Next: Usage of Variables >>
 

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