MySQL —

What Is SQL?

SQL (pronounced as as sequel) is an abbreviation for Structured Query Language. SQL is a language designed specifically for communicating with databases.

Unlike other languages (spoken languages such as French, or programming languages such as PHP), SQL is made up of very few words. This is deliberate. SQL is designed to do one thing and do it well provide you with a simple and efficient way to read and write data from a database.

Advantages of SQL?

  1. SQL is not a proprietary language used by specific database vendors. Almost every major DBMS supports SQL, so learning this one language enables you to interact with just about every database you'll run into.

    DBMS-Specific SQL Although SQL is not a proprietary language and there is a standards committee which tries to define SQL syntax that can be used by all DBMSs, the reality is that no two DBMSs implement SQL identically.

  2. The SQL statements are all made up of descriptive English words so it is easy to learn. .

  3. SQL is actually a very powerful language, and by cleverly using its language elements you can perform very complex and sophisticated database operations.

In this first tutorial, you learned what SQL is and why it is useful. Because SQL is used to interact with databases, you also reviewed some basic database terminology.