Newbie: Sql server express 2008 or Sql server Compact edition ?

[fsdama]

Hi,
I am relatively new to databases and I would like to start to experiment with them. I have VS 2008 installed and also have Sql server Compact Edition 3.5 installed.

I also came across Sql server express 2008 which for some reason seemed better but I have not installed it yet. I cant recall installing the Compact edition. Did it come with VS2008? And are these two databases quite different or pretty much the same? I was thinking of deleting the Compact edition and use the express version instead. Is this recommended?

Thanks

[hspc]

First, you can have both SQL CE and Express installed. As I remember, SQL CE gets installed with VS2008.

If you want to learn databases, you should use Express edition. It has much more features than CE like:


Views
Stored procedures
More querying capabilities like TOP

It's also a limited version of more advanced SQL server editions like standard, enterprise. So you can use it as a start and upgrade later.

If you download SQL 2008 Express with advanced services, you'll get some other tools like SSMS to manage the database and reporting services to create reports.