…I don’t get it.
It’s pronounced SEE-QUILL. Like “sequel.”
And it is…
Well…I vaguely understand what that means, but I’m a visual person.
Ok. I got it.
A database is like an empty shelf. We’re going to go with a wine shelf. Because people like wine.
Well, that’s good for you. Anyway you use a shelf to store things until you need them. A database works the same way. There are different types of databases, and SQL is a relational database management system. Which means it looks like a Excel chart. Or an empty shelf.
How am I supposed to remember that?
Just remember an empty shelf is what you’ll have when your relations come over and drink all your wine. As with any wine shelf, you can only fit one bottle of wine in any given space.
Unless you have bottles of ice wine. In that case you are very lucky.
SQL databases work the same way. You have one piece of data in each slot, and to find them you will use a key, or search by column or row. Here is how you would get a delicious red wine from our “shelf” database:
SELECT wine FROM shelf
WHERE taste = “delicious”
AND dryness = “dry”
AND color = “red”;
As you can see, it’s pretty easy to understand. If only we could search for our favorite bottle of wine in real-life as easily…
So why should I care?
Despite the fact that NoSQL databases (another type we will get to later) are rising in popularity- SQL still reigns. 79 percent of databases are relational databases. So next time you upload some cat photos or sign up for that website you know you will never use, think about where that data is going.
You have my attention.
If you are interested in learning more about SQL or *gasp* actually learning it, here’s a tutorial. And have fun uploading those cat photos.