Chapter 18: Structured Query Language

Overview

As a web developer, you might not have any input in the design, maintenance, and administration of the database that supplies data to your website. However, not only will you need to access that database, you'll need to automate the process so visitors to your site can retrieve and perhaps even modify data. That's your job-to coordinate access to the data without really having any real influence over the design of the database. Sometimes your job is challenging.The key to success is to talk to the database in a language it understands. That's where SQL comes into the picture. Structured Query Language (SQL) is the defacto language of relational databases. It doesn't matter one bit what relational database management system (RDBMS) was used to create the database because they all respond to you if you speak in a language they understand.

This chapter introduces SQL. You'll learn the basic statements and syntax that you'll need to communicate with most any relational database.