SQL stands for structured query language and is used to retrieve, manipulate, and write data. It is often used in relational database management systems (RDBMS), or databases with tables that are linked together. This means the tables can be joined to better organize data. We will talk about table relationships and joins in Module 6.
While SQL is traditionally associated with relational databases, SQL has continued to be popular enough to be implemented in NoSQL databases ("Not only SQL") as well as "big data" platforms like Apache Spark and Trino. Even though it is 50 years old, SQL continues to be a necessary skill for any data professional and a go-to language for working with data.
Within relational databases there are many commercial and open-source platforms like Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL. These platforms will often run a database on an onsite server or "in the cloud", which is rented server space operating remotely. All of these platforms use SQL, and core SQL language features are shared across them. To keep our environment simple, the platform we will use is SQLite.
What are SQL and Relational Databases?
SQL stands for structured query language and is used to retrieve, manipulate, and write data. It is often used in relational database management systems (RDBMS), or databases with tables that are linked together. This means the tables can be joined to better organize data. We will talk about table relationships and joins in Module 6.
While SQL is traditionally associated with relational databases, SQL has continued to be popular enough to be implemented in NoSQL databases ("Not only SQL") as well as "big data" platforms like Apache Spark and Trino. Even though it is 50 years old, SQL continues to be a necessary skill for any data professional and a go-to language for working with data.
Within relational databases there are many commercial and open-source platforms like Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MySQL. These platforms will often run a database on an onsite server or "in the cloud", which is rented server space operating remotely. All of these platforms use SQL, and core SQL language features are shared across them. To keep our environment simple, the platform we will use is SQLite.