Chapter 1.

SQL Crash
Course

This short chapter is intended to quickly get you up to

speed on basic SQL terminology and concepts.

What Is a Database?
Let’s start with the basics. A database is a place to store
data in an organized way. There are many ways to organize
data, and as a result, there are many databases to choose
from. The two categories that databases fall into are SQL
and NoSQL.

SQL
SQL is short for Structured Query Language. Imagine you
have an app that remembers all of your friend’s birthdays.
SQL is the most popular language you would use to talk to
that app.
English: “Hey app. When is my husband’s birthday?”
SQL: SELECT * FROM birthdays
WHERE person = 'husband';
SQL databases are often called relational databases
because they are made up of relations, which are more
commonly referred to as tables. Many tables connected to
each other make up a database. Figure 1-1 shows a picture
of a relation in a SQL database.
 Figure 1-1. A relation (also known as a table) in a SQL database

The main thing to note about SQL databases is that they

require predefined schemas. You can think of a schema as
the way that data in a database is organized or structured.
Let’s say you’d like to create a table. Before loading any
data into the table, the structure of the table must first be
decided on, including things like what columns are in the
table, whether those columns hold integer or decimal
values, etc.
There comes a time, though, when data cannot be
organized in such a structured way. Your data may have
varying fields or you may need a more effective way of
storing and accessing a large amount of data. That’s where
NoSQL comes in.

NoSQL
NoSQL stands for not only SQL. It will not be covered in
detail in this book, but I wanted to point it out because the
term has grown a lot in popularity since the 2010s and it’s
important to understand there are ways to store data
beyond just tables.
NoSQL databases are often referred to as non-relational
databases, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Their
main characteristics are that they have dynamic schemas
(meaning the schema doesn’t have to be locked in up front)
and they allow for horizontal scaling (meaning the data can
spread across multiple machines).
The most popular NoSQL database is MongoDB, which is
more specifically a document database. Figure 1-2 shows a
picture of how data is stored in MongoDB. You’ll notice that
the data is no longer in a structured table and the number
of fields (similar to a column) varies for each document
(similar to a row).

Figure 1-2. A collection (a variant of a table) in MongoDB, a NoSQL database

That all said, the focus of this book is on SQL databases.

Even with the introduction of NoSQL, most companies still
store the majority of their data in tables in relational
databases.

Database Management Systems (DBMS)

You may have heard terms like PostgreSQL or SQLite, and
be wondering how they are different from SQL. They are
two types of Database Management Systems (DBMS),
which is software used to work with a database.
This includes things like figuring out how to import data
and organize it, as well as things like managing how users
or other programs access the data. A Relational Database
Management System (RDBMS) is software that is
specifically for relational databases, or databases made up
of tables.
Each RDBMS has a different implementation of SQL,
meaning that the syntax varies slightly from software to
software. For example, this is how you would output 10
rows of data in 5 different RDBMSs:
MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite
SELECT * FROM birthdays LIMIT 10;

Microsoft SQL Server

SELECT TOP 10 * FROM birthdays;

Oracle Database
SELECT * FROM birthdays WHERE ROWNUM <= 10;
 GOOGLING SQL SYNTAX
When searching for SQL syntax online, always include the RDBMS you are
working with in the search. When I first learned SQL, I could not for the
life of me figure out why my copy-pasted code from the internet didn’t
work and this was the reason!
Do this.
Search: create table datetime postgresql
→ Result: timestamp
Search: create table datetime microsoft sql server
→ Result: datetime

Not this.
Search: create table datetime
→ Result: syntax could be for any RDBMS

This book covers SQL basics along with the nuances of five
popular database management systems: Microsoft SQL
Server, MySQL, Oracle Database, PostgreSQL and SQLite.
Some are proprietary, meaning they are owned by a
company and cost money to use, and others are open
source, meaning they are free for anyone to use. Table 1-1
details the differences between the RDBMSs.

Table 1-1. RDBMS comparison table

RDBMS Owne Highlights
r
RDBMS Owne Highlights
r

Microsoft Micro - Popular proprietary RDBMS

SQL soft
Server
- Often used alongside other Microsoft products
including Microsoft Azure and the .NET framework

- Common on the Windows platform

- Also referred to as MSSQL or SQL Server

MySQL Open - Popular open source RDBMS

Sourc
e
- Often used alongside web development languages
like HTML/CSS/Javascript

- Acquired by Oracle, though still open source

Oracle Oracl - Popular proprietary RDBMS

Database e
- Often used at large corporations given the amount of
features, tools, and support available

- Also referred to simply as Oracle

PostgreSQ Open - Quickly growing in popularity

L Sourc
e
- Often used alongside open source technologies like
Docker and Kubernetes

- Efficient and great for large datasets

 RDBMS Owne Highlights
r

SQLite Open - World’s most used database engine

Sourc
e
- Common on iOS and Android platforms

- Lightweight and great for a small database

NOTE
Going forward in this book:
Microsoft SQL Server will be referred to as SQL Server.

Oracle Database will be referred to as Oracle.

Installation instructions and code snippets for each RDBMS

can be found in RDBMS Software in Chapter 2.

A SQL Query
A common acronym in the SQL world is CRUD, which
stands for “Create, Read, Update, and Delete.” These are
the four major operations that are available within a
database.

SQL Statements
People who have read and write access to a database are
able to perform all four operations. They can create and
delete tables, update data in tables, and read data from
tables. In other words, they have all the power.
They write SQL statements, which is general SQL code that
can be written to perform any of the CRUD operations.
These people often have titles like database administrator
(DBA) or database engineer.

SQL Queries
People who have read access to a database are only able to
perform the read operation, meaning they can look at data
in tables.
They write SQL queries, which are a more specific type of
SQL statement. Queries are used for finding and displaying
data, otherwise known as “reading” data. This action is
sometimes referred to as querying tables. These people
often have titles like data analyst or data scientist.
The next two sections are a quick-start guide for writing
SQL queries, since it is the most common type of SQL code
that you’ll see. More details on creating and updating
tables can be found in Chapter 5.

The SELECT Statement

The most basic SQL query (which will work in any SQL
software) is:

SELECT * FROM my_table;

which says, show me all of the data within the table named
my_table—all of the columns and all of the rows.
While SQL is case-insensitive (SELECT and select are
equivalent), you’ll notice that some words are in all caps
and others are not.
The uppercase words in the query are called keywords,
meaning that SQL has reserved them to perform some
 sort of operation on the data.

All other words are lowercase. This includes table

names, column names, etc.

The uppercase and lowercase formats are not enforced, but

it is a good style convention to follow for readability’s sake.
Let’s go back to this query:

SELECT * FROM my_table;

Let’s say that instead of returning all of the data in its

current state, I want to:
Filter the data

Sort the data

This is where you would modify the SELECT statement to

include a few more clauses, and the result would look
something like this:

SELECT *
FROM my_table
WHERE column1 > 100
ORDER BY column2;

More details on all of the clauses can be found in Chapter

4, but the main thing to note is this: the clauses must
always be listed in the same order.
 MEMORIZE THIS ORDER
All SQL queries will contain some combination of these clauses. If you
remember nothing else, remember this order!

SELECT -- columns to display

FROM -- table(s) to pull from
WHERE -- filter rows
GROUP BY -- split rows into groups
HAVING -- filter grouped rows
ORDER BY -- columns to sort

NOTE
The -- is the start of a comment in SQL, meaning the text after it is
just for documentation’s sake and the code will not be executed.
For the most part, the SELECT and FROM clauses are required and all
other clauses are optional. The exception is if you are selecting a
particular database function, then only the SELECT is required.

The classic mnemonic to remember the order of the clauses

is:
Sweaty feet will give horrible odors.
If you don’t want to think about sweaty feet each time you
write a query, here’s one that I made up:
Start Fridays with grandma’s homemade oatmeal.

Order of Execution
The order that SQL code is executed is not something
typically taught in a beginner SQL course, but I’m
including it here because it’s a common question I received
when I taught SQL to students coming from a Python
coding background.
A sensible assumption would be that the order that you
write the clauses is the same order that the computer
executes the clauses, but that is not the case. After a query
is run, this is the order that the computer works through
the data:
1. FROM

2. WHERE

3. GROUP BY

4. HAVING

5. SELECT

6. ORDER BY

Compared to the order that you actually write the clauses,

you’ll notice that the SELECT has been moved to the fifth
position. The high-level takeaway here is that SQL works in
this order:
1. Gathers all of the data with the FROM

2. Filters rows of data with the WHERE

3. Groups rows together with the GROUP BY

4. Filters grouped rows with the HAVING

5. Specifies columns to display with the SELECT

6. Rearranges the results with the ORDER BY

A Data Model
I’d like to spend the final section of the crash course going
over a simple data model and point out some terms that
you’ll often hear in fun SQL conversations around the
office.
A data model is a visualization that summarizes how all of
the tables in a database are related to one another, along
with some details about each table. Figure 1-3 is a simple
data model of a student grades database.

Figure 1-3. A data model of student grades

Table 1-2 lists out the technical terms that describe what’s
happening in the data model.

Table 1-2. Terms used to describe what’s in a data model

T Definition Example
e
r
m
T Definition Example
e
r
m

D A database is a place to store data in This data model shows all of the
a an organized way. data in the student grades
t database.
a
b
a
s
e

T A table is made up of rows and There are two tables in the

a columns. In the data model, they are student grades database:
b represented by rectangles. Students and Grades.
l
e

C A table consists of multiple columns, In the Students table, the

o which are sometimes referred to as columns are student_id,
l attributes or fields. Each column student_name, and
u contains a particular type of data. In date_of_birth.
m the data model, all of the columns in
n a table are listed within each
rectangle.

P A primary key uniquely identifies In the Students table, the

r each row of data in a table. A primary key is the
i primary key can be made up of one student_id column, meaning
m or more columns in a table. In a data that the
a model, it is flagged as pk or with a student_id value is different for
r key icon. each row of data.
y
K
e
y
 T Definition Example
e
r
m

F A foreign key in a table refers to a In the Grades table,

o primary key in another table. The student_id is a foreign key,
r two tables can be linked together by meaning that the values in that
e the common column. A table can column match up with values in
i have multiple foreign keys. In a data the corresponding primary key
g model, it is flagged as fk. column in the Students table.
n

K
e
y

R A relationship describes how the In this data model, the two tables
e rows in one table map to the rows in have a one-to-many relationship
l another table. In a data model, it is represented by the fork. One
a represented by a line with symbols student can have many grades, or
t at the end points. Common types are one row of the Students table
i one-to-one and one-to-many maps to multiple rows in the
o relationships. Grades table.
n
s
h
i
p

More details on these terms can be found in “Creating

Tables” in Chapter 5.
You might be wondering why we’re spending so much time
reading a data model instead of writing SQL code already!
The reason is because you’ll often be writing queries that
link up a number of tables, so it’s a good idea to first get
familiar with the data model to know how they all connect.
Data models can typically be found in a documentation
repository at a company. You may want to print out the data
models that you frequently work with—both for easy
reference and easy desk decor.
You can also write queries within an RDBMS to look up
information contained in a data model, such as the tables in
a database, the columns of a table, or the constraints of a
table.

AND THAT IS YOUR CRASH COURSE!

The remainder of this book is intended to be a reference book and does not
need to be read in order. Please use it to look up concepts, keywords, and
standards.