What is SQL?
What is SQL?
SQL pronounced “ess-que-el”(stands for Structured Query Language) or SQL is pronounced as “S-Q-L” or “see-quill”. SQL is an ANSI and ISO standard, and is the de facto standard database query language. A variety of established database products support SQL. SQL is used to communicate with a database.
SQL defines many keywords, which can be divided into several categories. The first SQL keyword category is for keywords used for data retrieval like the SELECT keyword. The second category is for the SQL keywords used for data manipulation like the INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE SQL keywords. The third category is the transactional SQL keywords category, featuring keywords like COMMIT and ROLLBACK. Another SQL keyword category is the SQL Data Definition Language category featuring words like CREATE and DROP. Yet another category of SQL keywords controls the authorization and permission aspects of RDBMS (GRANT and REVOKE keywords).
History of SQL
The origins of the SQL take us back to the 1970s, when in the IBM laboratories, new database software was created – System R. And to manage the data stored in System R, the SQL language was created. At first it was called SEQUEL, a name which is still used as an alternative pronunciation for SQL, but was later renamed to just SQL. In 1979, a company called Relational Software, which later became Oracle, saw the commercial potential of SQL and released its own modified version, named Oracle V2.
Now into its third decade of existence, SQL offers great flexibility to users by supporting distributed databases, i.e. databases that can be run on several computer networks at a time. Certified by ANSI and ISO, SQL has become a database query language standard, lying in the basis of a variety of well established database applications on the Internet today. It serves both industry-level and academic needs and is used on both individual computers and corporate servers. With the progress in database technology SQL-based applications have become increasingly affordable for the regular user. This is due to the introduction of various open-source SQL database solutions such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Firebird, and many more.