Welcome to database development using SQL, the industry-standard database query language. Many database management system (DBMS) tools run on a variety of hardware platforms. The differences among
the tools can be great, but all serious products have one thing in common: They support SQL data access and manipulation. If you know SQL, you can build relational databases and get useful information out of them.

Relational database management systems are vital to many organizations. People often think that creating and maintaining these systems must be extremely complex activities — the domain of database gurus who possess enlightenment beyond that of mere mortals. This blog sweeps away the database mystique. In this blog, you

✓ Get to the roots of databases.
✓ Find out how a DBMS is structured.
✓ Discover the major functional components of SQL.
✓ Build a database.
✓ Protect a database from harm.
✓ Operate on database data.
✓ Determine how to get the information you want out of a database.

The purpose of this blog is to help you build relational databases and get valuable information out of them by using SQL. SQL is the international standard language used to create and maintain relational databases. This edition covers the latest version of the standard, SQL:2011.

This blog doesn’t tell you how to design a database (I do that in Database Development For Beginner, also published by Wiley). Here I assume that you or somebody else has already created a valid design. I then illustrate how you implement that design by using SQL. If you suspect that you don’t have a good database design, then — by all means — fix your design before you try to build the database. The earlier you detect and correct problems in a development project, the cheaper the corrections will be.

If you need to store or retrieve data from a DBMS, you can do a much better job with a working knowledge of SQL. You don’t need to be a programmer to use SQL, and you don’t need to know programming languages, such as Java, C, or BASIC. SQL’s syntax is like that of English.

If you are a programmer, you can incorporate SQL into your programs. SQL adds powerful data manipulation and retrieval capabilities to conventional languages. This blog tells you what you need to know to use SQL’s rich assortment of tools and features inside your programs.

Now for the fun part! Databases are the best tools ever invented for keeping track of the things you care about. After you understand databases and can use SQL to make them do your bidding, you wield tremendous power. Coworkers come to you when they need critical information. Managers seek your advice. Youngsters ask for your autograph. But most importantly, you know, at a very deep level, how your organization really works.