(Web Development Series) What is SQL ??

 What is SQL?

• SQL stands for Structured Query Language
• SQL lets you access and manipulates databases
• SQL became a standard of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1986, and of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1987

What Can SQL do?

• SQL can execute queries against a database
• SQL can retrieve data from a database
• SQL can insert records in a database
• SQL can update records in a database
• SQL can delete records from a database
• SQL can create new databases
• SQL can create new tables in a database
• SQL can create stored procedures in a database
• SQL can create views in a database
• SQL can set permissions on tables, procedures, and views

SQL is a Standard - BUT....

Although SQL is an ANSI/ISO standard, there are different versions of the SQL language.

However, to be compliant with the ANSI standard, they all support at least the major commands (such as SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE, INSERT, WHERE) in a similar manner.

Using SQL in Your Web Site

To build a web site that shows data from a database, you will need:

• An RDBMS database program (i.e. MS Access, SQL Server, MySQL)
• To use a server-side scripting language, like PHP or ASP
• To use SQL to get the data you want
• To use HTML / CSS to style the page