First appearing in 1974, Structured Query Language (SQL) is
one of the oldest programming languages used for accessing and manipulating
data in a database. It has since become a standard of the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI) as well as the International Organization for
Standardization (ISO), and is continuously revised to include a larger set of
features over the years [1]. SQL understands fields that are in tables, and how
to retrieve data in those tables based on the contents in the fields. Four
fundamental features that every database has are the ability to create, query,
update, or delete data from tables—all of which can be done with SQL operations
(CRUD features). The way SQL works is analogous to how a spreadsheet in Excel
works: the database is an entire spreadsheet file, a table is a tab or sheet in
the spreadsheet, and columns and rows are the same in both [2].
SQL is based off of English syntax; like a sentence, an SQL
statement has clauses, where each clause has a specific function for that
statement. The following table gives a few examples of SQL clauses and their
uses. Microsoft support has a handy post explaining how SQL works and further
clarifies what statements and clauses are composed of.
SQL is meant to be simple to use; even as a high schooler
with no coding experience I had little trouble using it. For the past few years
I’ve been working as a data coordinator for a hospital in Beirut, and created a
database through Microsoft Access, a relational database program that uses SQL,
to keep track of donor information. My first thoughts when I tried using it
were “how is this different than inputting data into a spreadsheet in excel?
Can’t I use the VLOOKUP function in excel if I’m looking for a particular piece
of information?” I soon found out that Access is a much more powerful tool,
especially when you have multiple sets of data (and large amounts of it)—Access
has the capability to link different sets of data together quickly and with
much more ease than an excel function with four inputs. SQL can be used from a
very basic level such as this simple database, to more complex projects in Revit,
which allows users to create a connection to an SQL database and facilitate
access to information [3].
[1] ANSI/ISO/IEC
International Standard (IS). Database Language SQL—Part 2: Foundation (SQL/Foundation).
1999.
[2] http://sql.learncodethehardway.org/book/introduction.html
[3] https://www.augi.com/library/making-sense-of-data-interoperability-in-the-bim-world
Yasmina,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your experience of using SQL when you were a data coordinator. It did not cross my mind when I was doing my research that SQL is used in programs such as REVIT to create connections to other databases. I now see truly how extensive SQL can get!