The first mention of Azure SQL, referred to as “Microsoft SQL Services” at the time, was when Microsoft announced “Project Red Dog” (Microsoft Azure) at Microsoft’s Professional Developer Conference (PDC) in 2008. This cloud-hosted version of SQL Server was one of the first services available on Azure. From the beginning, it was meant to provide a Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering of SQL Server, where you don’t have to provision hardware or patch software and you can enjoy benefits that come with running in the cloud – availability, performance, security, and scale – without deploying complex and expensive systems on premises. Since then, Azure SQL has continued to grow and evolve with the Azure platform. As you read this book, it’s important to remember that things are always changing. While some of the “little rocks” or details throughout the book may change slightly as the platform evolves, the “big rocks” you will learn in this book will provide a solid foundation for you to grow in the space of developing with databases.