Database Wisdom: SQL

SQL

SQL has been around since the 1970s. It was defined by IBM and has since become the standard query and manipulation language for relational databases. The standard is governed by several standards bodies but the most frequently cited is ANSI.

SQL commands are terminated with a semi-colon (;). Some tools do not require the semi-colon but, for the most part, when you write a SQL statement, expect to terminate it with a semi-colon.

There are many parts to the SQL standard but what this book will concentrate on is called the Data Manipulation Language (DML). A follow on book to this one will cover the Data Definition Language (DDL). To understand DML, I think it is important to understand how DML differs from DDL.

Topics:

• Intro
• SQL
• DML
• DDL
• Data Types
• Expressions and Operators
• Common SQL Functions