SQL Tutorial for Beginners

Understanding SQL with Kishore Tech Solutions

Many of you must have come across the term “SQL” while learning about computers and its programming. But what is it and why does it hold such an important stature in data management and processing?

Understanding SQL

Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce created SQL at IBM in the early 1970s. SEQUEL was the original name for this (Structured English QUEry Language). SQL's primary goal is to update, save, manipulate, and retrieve data from relational databases. SQL has evolved significantly throughout the years.

Many new features have been introduced, including XML support, triggers, stored procedures, regular expression matching, recursive queries, standardised sequences, and much more.

SQL stands for Structured Query Language (pronounced "ess-que-el"). SQL is a language for interacting with databases. It is the standard language for relational database management systems, according to ANSI (American National Standards Institute).

Creating a Database

We use the CREATE DATABASE statement to create a new database.

CREATE DATABASE School;
    

If you want to delete this database, you have to use the following syntax.

DROP DATABASE School;
    

Tables

Tables are one or more objects in a relational database system. These tables are where the database's data or information is kept. Tables are made up of columns and rows and are recognised by their titles.

Creating a Table

So to create a table in the database we use the following SQL query.

CREATE TABLE table_name (
    column1 datatype,
    column2 datatype,
    column3 datatype, ....
);
    

Different Queries in SQL

SELECT: The SQL SELECT command is used to get data from a database table, which is returned as a result table. Result-sets are the names for these result tables.

SELECT column1, column2, ...
FROM table_name;
    

Advantages of SQL

SQL has many advantages which makes it popular and highly demanded. It is a reliable and efficient language used for communicating with the database. Some advantages of SQL are as follows:

• Larger Data Retrieval: Large quantities of data are rapidly and efficiently retrieved. Insertion, deletion, and data modification may all be done in a matter of seconds.
• No Prior Coding Skills Required: Data retrieval does not necessitate a significant number of lines of code, thus no coding skills are necessary. SQL uses all of the fundamental terms, such as SELECT, INSERT INTO, UPDATE, and so on, and the syntactical rules are simple, making it a user-friendly language.
• Standardized Language: It gives a consistent platform to all of its users throughout the world as a result of documentation and years of establishment.
• Portable: It is portable and may be used in programmes on PCs, servers, and laptops, regardless of platform (Operating System, etc). It may also be integrated with other programmes based on the need/requirement/use.
• Interactive Language: Answers to complicated inquiries may be answered in seconds and are simple to learn and comprehend.
• Multiple Data Views: Users that need to study the links between data categories might utilise a multidimensional database to get different perspectives of data sets.

Conclusion

Is SQL still useful today?

Despite the fact that tableless databases such as MongoDB and Firebase are growing more popular and are being advocated for by developers as well as being utilised in greater numbers, SQL remains essential — particularly in terms of data durability and scalable costs.

Having a set cost might assist some firms choose how much to devote to budgeting and future development. The fixed cost may appear higher at first, but SQL can prove to be less expensive in the long run for classic and tested situations. Tableless architectures, on the other hand, should not be completely dismissed. When used in combination with SQL, it may provide a layer that makes development work go faster and faster.