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What is SQL and what is it used for?

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SQL is among the most crucial programming languages you should know when working with data. We will explore the basics of SQL and how it’s utilized and what jobs you can get if you master SQL.

All kinds of data are available, from prices of the items you buy at your local grocery store to the personal data gleaned from your online browsing patterns. The foundation of our world is data and SQL is an programming language that makes managing this data a lot easier.

In addition to looking at SQL and its applications in the future, we’ll examine how to master the language and the kind of jobs that you could be able to find if you learn to pick up SQL. For example, if you’re interested to work in the industry of data, SQL is pretty essential to master.

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What exactly is SQL?

As we have discussed in our post about the different programming languages are utilized to accomplish, Structured Query Language, or SQL for short, is a programing language that interacts with databases. The purpose of SQL (often known as a as a sequel) is to maintain, store, retrieve and alter data in the data management database.

SQL was created through IBM in the 1970s, and was made commercially accessible in 1979. It is widely accepted as the most widely used for a database-related management system (RDBMS).

SQL makes use of sets of keywords to extract data from databases. these keywords are referred to as statements. We’ll then examine the various statements that are made available by SQL.

How do you define a database?

Databases are everywhere Every company and enterprise having to keep data digitally. A database is an accumulation of organized data that is easily saved in a database, sorted, found and searched.

There are a myriad of types of databases. The kind you choose will depend on the kind of data you’d like to store. Let’s take a look at some common database types:

Relational databases – these are organized in columns and rows, contain data and are stored in multiple tables. They enable you to locate and view the data that is linked to each other. All relational databases employ SQL. Microsoft SQL Server is an example of a relational management system.

NoSQL databases – This includes any database that doesn’t employ SQL as the primary language. These types of databases are ideal to those who don’t require their data to be organized. We’ll go into more detail about these databases in the future. CouchDB provides an illustration of the NoSQL database.

Cloud databases – they are databases that run in the cloud. Access for these database is available as an online service. They require minimal maintenance and allow for flexibility. Oracle Autonomous Database is an example of a cloud database.

Time series databases can be described as databases designed to store time-stamped data that provides more precise information. Druid is an instance of a time series database.

What exactly is SQL employed to do?

Now that you know about what SQL means, but you could be wondering what it’s employed to do. As we said earlier, it’s a programming language that can be used to connect using relational databases. However, let’s go further.

SQL lets you search the database in many ways using English-style statements. SQL is commonly used by websites for back-end storage of data and processing tools (for instance, Facebook uses SQL).

In addition to Facebook You can also be sure that SQL to be used in music apps such as Spotify as well as banking apps such as Revolut as well as other social media platforms like Twitter or Instagram. SQL is one of the widely utilized database language, and it is suitable by almost any business that requires the storage of information in a relational format.

The queries within SQL are utilized to pull information from the database but they differ in their effectiveness. This is because some databases come with their own custom extensions that are specific to the system.

In essence, SQL provides CRUD functionality for databases. What exactly is CRUD?

Create
Read
Update
Delete.

SQL statements

If you had to search through a huge database that did not have SQL software, it will take significantly longer to locate the information that you require.

Utilizing the SELECT statement You can filter data by column and table types. This allows you to quickly identify the data sets that satisfy all needs of your search instead of spending lots of time looking manually.

The INSERT statement lets you to add additional data to tables. Similar to the SELECT command that you can select different columns to input information into.

The DELETE query is exactly what it says It allows you to erase existing records in the table. A DELETE query can also allow users to define rows to be deleted when they match certain requirements.

The CREATE DASHBOARD statement is the initial step for creating your database, it creates an entirely new database in your management system for databases. The same way, CREATE TABLE can be utilized to create a new table after the database has been set up.

The UPDATE statement can be utilized to update the status of one or more entries in the database. You can change all the rows the same time or apply a condition to change only a subset of.

Different types of SQL commands

The language is broken down into four different types of SQL commands: DDL, DML, DQL and DCL. Let’s examine each of these categories.

DDL (data definition language) This is used to construct and alter database objects such as tables indexes, users and users.
DML (data manipulating language) This can be used to delete or add information within databases.
DCL (data control language) It is used to restrict access to information in the database.
DQL (data query language) This is used to run queries against the data and locate information. It is made up of COMMAND statements only.

There are tools that can assist you in writing SQL Some of these instruments are Microsoft’s SQL Server Management Studio, DataGrip Oracle’s SQL developer, SQL Workbench and Toad.

SQL Vs NoSQL

NoSQL databases became popular in the latter half of 2000 to handle data without the need for more upfront structures. These kinds of databases are more user-friendly for developers since they often have faster queries as well as more flexible data models.

For comparison the SQL-based database is used specifically to store relational data. They are flexible in their query usage they are well-structured and have a smaller data footprint. SQL databases are more widespread than NoSQL and NoSQL, however they are used in tandem.

There are some significant differences between them These include:

Scalability NoSQL databases are typically vertically scalable, whereas SQL databases are typically vertically adaptable. This implies that NoSQL databases are often able to handle larger volumes of traffic.
Structure The structure of SQL databases are table-based in structure, however NoSQL databases may be document-based, graph-based as well as wide-column store. SQL databases are more suitable for transactions with multiple rows.
Community and knowledge The community and knowledge are vast. number of communities and resources that are available for SQL since it’s more widespread and is around longer. NoSQL isn’t able to share this many websites and communities, which means it is more difficult to find help when needed.