An intro to SQL

This series will serve as an introduction to the SQL topic. It is not meant to be an in-depth guide, but rather an overview of the features for beginners.

We’ll cover the the basics, how to write a query, constraints, and how to create your own table.

We won’t cover any advanced features such as altering tables, creating indexes or joining tables.

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SQL stands for Structured Query Language.

It’s a query language¹ — a type of language that lets you interact² with a database.

You use queries to do so. Here’s an example:

The query above returns all the rows and columns from the users table.

Now, let’s go over why SQL is such an important skill to learn!

1. It’s valuable across many roles

Whether you’re a coder, or in product, analysis, marketing, operations, QA or even sales — SQL will make your life easier.

2. You’ll seem like a superhero

You’ll be more self-sufficient with data. Others will come to you for advice. It adds a lot to your resume.

3. It’s not going anywhere

It’s been around for over 40 years. And yet it’s the structure for the top 4 databases, and the 3rd most popular technical language in general.


Footnotes

[1] Many people also call SQL a programming language.

However, SQL can only interact with a database and doesn’t have the capability and many of the features needed to develop software, which is associated with programming languages.

[2] Aside from getting data from it, interacting with a database can include other manipulations like:

  • inserting data,
  • updating data, and
  • creating tables.

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Andrei Calabangiu

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