Here is the expert-level, insider guidance you need on using Azure SQL Database as your back-end data store. This book highlights best practices in everything ranging from full-stack projects to mobile applications to critical, back-end APIs. The book provides instruction on accessing your data from any language and platform. And you learn how to push processing-intensive work into the database engine to be near the data and avoid undue networking traffic. Azure SQL is explained from a developer's point of view, helping you master its feature set and create applications that perform well and delight users. Core to the book is showing you how Azure SQL Database provides relational and post-relational support so that any workload can be managed with easy accessibility from any platform and any language. You will learn about features ranging from lock-free tables to columnstore indexes, and about support for data formats ranging from JSON and key-values to the nodes and edges in the graph database paradigm. Reading this book prepares you to deal with almost all data management challenges, allowing you to create lean and specialized solutions having the elasticity and scalability that are needed in the modern world. What You Will Learn Master Azure SQL Database in your development projects from design to the CI/CD pipeline Access your data from any programming language and platform Combine key-value, JSON, and relational data in the same database Push data-intensive compute work into the database for improved efficiency Delight your customers by detecting and improving poorly performing queries Enhance performance through features such as columnstore indexes and lock-free tables Build confidence in your mastery of Azure SQL Database's feature set Who This Book Is For Developers of applications and APIs that benefit from cloud database support, developers who wish to master their tools (including Azure SQL Database, and those who want their applications to be known for speedy performance and the elegance of their code.