Connecting to and querying SQL Server with Python

This post details the technical steps for connecting to and querying SQL Server using Python. It covers installing the pyodbc library (including platform-specific instructions for macOS and Apple Silicon), building a Python connection string using Azure SQL parameters, creating and managing database connections with the 'with' statement, executing SQL queries for table creation and data insertion (both single and bulk inserts using executemany), and running various SQL queries like SELECT with WHERE and ORDER BY clauses. It also highlights the use of Mockaroo for data generation and the return types from pyodbc queries.