Beginning SQL Server 2008 for Developers is the starting-point in the Apress roadmap of titles for developers who wish to base their projects upon Microsoft's flagship database management system. The book takes developers from the point of installing SQL Server 2008, through the process of storing, retrieving, and securing data, to the point of being able to serve up business reports using SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services.
I grew up in Symington in Lanarkshire where my mum and dad had a local post office and grocers. I went to school in the village being the only boy in my class for a number of years. Trust me, at 7 or so, it wasnt as cracked up as you may think. I then on to Biggar for my secondary education. I hated it like mad and was so glad when I could leave. Having gained sufficient qualifications and found interest in computers through the Sinclair ZX80 it was time to move on and thanks solely to my mother and father who trawled the papers looking for jobs and colleges, I ended up at Motherwell Technical College where I gained an SOND in Computer Data Processing. This was a one year course giving the basis of working with mainframes as well as programming them.
Having studied at Motherwell Technical College as it was then named, just across the road from Fir Park football ground home of Motherwell FC, including day release at Ravesncraig Steel woorks, I then moved to two years at the Scottish College of Textiles (S.C.O.T) in Galashiels. Although a textile college this was one of the best colleges for computing due to the small class sizes and the great facilities there. Again this was teaching programming on an IBM mainframe using COBOL. This was also where I met my first real computer game, Collossus Cave! An excellent adventure that kept most of the students engrossed for months! I also met some of the best people at this college, a few who I still keep in contact with. College is a great place to move in to adult hood
From S.C.O.T. I found my first job which was with Texas Instruments in Bedford. This is was a whole new set of thinking with working in a big organisation where you compiled your code on a mainframe in Dallas from your computer in England. It was hard work and I was so wet behind the ears at that time. I wish I knew then what I know now and it would have been such a more pleasant experience.
I stayed with Texas Instruments for just over a year having been under the wing of a big Brian Nicholson. I met some great people there as well but time moved on and I ended up in Hemel Hempstead with Atlas Copco. This was a bad move for me which soon became apparent for many reasons so just over a year later I ended up with Link Associates in Chesham, Bucks. A software house by trade, gave me great exposure and a confidence boost not only in work levels but in self motivation, all given by the great guiding hand of Val Dromgoole.
After just over 2 years it was time to break out on my own as a consultant. Being a consultant gives you the freedom of choice, the freedom to change jobs at will, the freedom to move around and the freedom of office politics. Well, when I say break out on my own and look for these freedoms, my first consultancy lasted just over 8 years with Save & Propser in Romford, Essex, England. Still on mainframes I used a Computer Associates product called Ideal, which was far from the name suggested. It was restrictive but did get me away from the mundane that COBOL had become in my life.
I then moved to FoxPro and FoxBase almost at the same time, using FoxPro to write a generic Fantasy game simulation and FoxBase to look after a postal football game I inherited called Sick Parrot. What a great game that was and at this present time play an internet based version found here.
I soon learned the restrictedness of having the programming language along side the database language and so moved in to Visual Basic (v5) and SQL Server (6.5). Very soon after version 7 of SQL Server came along so I moved straight to there and avoid some of the problems with 6.5 solutions.
Moving from this point I have moved through Visual Basic 6, ASP, SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005, C#, Visual Basic .Net and now learning ASP.NET and Java.
