In 1997, I needed a reliable database for a VB application (TAS). Microsoft SQL Server was the logical choice. Since then, Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine has not disappointed me: it is very stable and the performance is good. In the beginning it was a Fat Client application, but it didn’t take long until stored procedures came out to fix any performance issues.
Stored procedures have major advantages in terms of performance and reliability, but they are difficult to program and maintain. TypeScript gave me the idea to develop a transpiler for Transact-SQL, called Typed-TSQL. You can program Typed-TSQL in VisualStudio, similar to other modern languages.