Introduction to SQL

The Introduction to SQL course is designed to give delegates practical experience in using ANSI standard SQL. As it is a generic course, some of the differences between different vendors’ implementations will be noted.

Course Objectives

To provide the knowledge and skills needed to retrieve data held in a relational database.

Who will the Course Benefit?

Anyone who needs to understand and use SQL to manipulate a database.

Prerequisites

There are no formal pre-requisites for the Introduction to SQL course, although an understanding of databases and exposure to information technology in general would be useful.

Skills Gained

The delegate will learn and acquire skills as follows:

Creating SQL statements to query a database table
Using standard aggregate functions and related SELECT statement clauses
Joining Tables
Using basic subqueries and the set operators

• Course content

  Course Introduction
  Administration and Course Materials
  Course Structure and Agenda
  Delegate and Trainer Introductions

  Session 1: RELATIONAL DATABASE CONCEPTS

  What is a Relational Database?
  Relational Database Structures
  Tables, Rows and Columns
  Indexes, Primary Keys and Foreign Keys
  Data Types
  The Data Dictionary

  Session 2: RETRIEVING DATA WITH THE SELECT STATEMENT

  The SELECT Statement
  The SELECT and FROM Clauses
  Conditions and the WHERE Clause
  Other Conditional Operators
  Logical Operators
  The ORDER BY Clause
  Column Aliases
  Arithmetic Operations
  Precedence of Operators

  Session 3: AGGREGATE FUNCTIONS

  Overview of Built in Aggregate Functions
  The GROUP BY Clause
  The HAVING Clause

  Session 4: JOINING TABLES

  Overview of Table Joins
  Inner Joins
  Table Aliases
  Outer Joins
  Self Joins
  ANSI Standard Joins

  Session 5: BASIC SUBQUERIES AND SET OPERATORS

  Overview of Subqueries
  Basic Subqueries
  Set Operators