Guru's Guide to SQL Server Architecture and Internals, The

Recap

SQL Server is a complex Windows app. There's nothing magical about it that makes it different from other Windows apps; it simply makes heavy use of the Win32 API functions, C/C++ runtime library functions, COM interfaces, and so on that any Windows app can use. It presents a sophisticated, multithreaded Windows application that clients can connect to and to which they can submit requests for data from databases, requests related to the storage of that data, and other administrative commands in the form of Transact-SQL. As a request is processed, its results—if any—are sent back to the requesting client via the same mechanisms that delivered the request in the first place.