What is SQL?

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a domain specific, standardized programming language used in programming and managing relational databases. It was initially created in the 1970s, it is used alike by developers and database administrators.

It is used for modifying database table and index structures, adding, updating and deleting rows of data, and retrieving subsets of information from within a database. Commonly used SQL statements include select, add, insert, update, delete, create, alter and truncate.

The security statements are used to control database access as well as to create user roles and permissions.

SQL database stores data in a set of tables containing rows and columns. Each column in a table corresponds to a category of data -- for example, customer name or address -- while each row contains a data value for the intersecting column.

SQL commands are in very simple and made up of meaningful English words.

Ex −  Create command is used to create a new table.

CREATE TABLE table_name (
   column1 datatype,
   column2 datatype,
   column3 datatype,
   ....
);

The parameters in the column define the names corresponding to the columns of the table.

The type of data in each column is specified by the data type parameter, for example, varchar, integer, date, etc.