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From social media platforms to online banking transactions, almost every software application uses a database one way or the other. In this regard, Structured Query Language (SQL) plays a critical role in managing large amounts of data stored in relational databases. This blog post aims to shed light on SQL fundamentals and the functionalities of Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS).
What is SQL?
Structured Query Language, commonly known as SQL, is a standard language utilized for interacting with databases. SQL helps users to update data, delete data, access data, manage and create databases, establish security measures and more.
SQL Commands
Below is an example of a basic SQL query:
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SELECT * FROM Employees; |
The above statement performs a “SELECT” operation, which fetches or selects the data from the database. The asterisk (*) is a wildcard character, meaning all columns’ data will be selected. ‘Employees’ is the name of the table where we want to retrieve the data.
What is a Relational Database Management System?
A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a type of database management system (DBMS) that stores data in tables. These tables are related to each other based on common attributes, making the data manipulation and retrieval process more efficient.
SQL Queries on RDBMS
SQL is typically used to interact with RDBMS. Here is an example of how we use SQL to get data from a relational database.
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SELECT * FROM Customers WHERE Country='USA'; |
The above SQL statement selects all records from the ‘Customers’ table where the ‘Country’ field value is ‘USA’. This is a clear example of how SQL can be used to fetch precise data from a large relational database using conditions.
Conclusion
Understanding the fundamental concepts of SQL and how RDBMS works is crucial in our data-driven world. Whether you’re a seasoned developer, a hopeful data analyst, or simply someone eager to skill-up in this domain, mastering SQL is a significant add-on to your skills set.