Excel used to be the poor schmuck’s database, with spreadsheets that just sort of sat there. You could create something more sophisticated with LOOKUP functions, but they were a huge hassle to set up.

Databases are used in many different settings, for different purposes. For example, libraries use databases to keep track of which books are available and which are out on loan. Schools may use ...

Excel possesses formidable database powers. Creating a relational database starts with a Master table that links it to subordinates, called (awkwardly) Slave, Child, or Detail tables. Before we dive ...

Inside a relational database management system, the princi­pal persisted data structure is considered a logical relation. Operations performed against that data within the RDBMS result in a logical ...

Full disclosure: I am a co-author of an upcoming book on SQL Server 2012, and I do a lot of work with Microsoft. Why would a new version of SQL Server be a big deal for this blog? As a mainstream ...