SQL is a popular computer language for database applications, used by individual computers and businesses. It has limitations, but is fast and efficient for querying and reporting. Oracle and IBM pioneered its adoption, but now many others, including Microsoft, use it too.
One of the primary uses of computers, since their inception, has been the manipulation of data. Millions of databases have been created and manipulated by computers for decades. As computers have become more sophisticated, so has the software used to drive their functions. One of the most popular computer languages for database applications today is SQL (Structured Query Language). This language powers simple to complex database management protocols, from basic data entry and deletion to complicated queries, manipulation, and world-class reporting.
Many individual desktop or laptop computers run SQL-based database programs. These days, SQL is the norm for such things. However, it is also powerful enough to handle business functionality for mainframes, servers and business protocols. It is this type of data manipulation business that involves the big names of Oracle and IBM.
These two companies, more than any other, pioneered the adoption of SQL as the primary language for database manipulation. As powerful as SQL is, however, it has its limitations. It is primarily a query-based language and accurately describing its limitations as well. The queries performed by SQL can be as demanding as programmers or system managers can imagine, but ultimately SQL will not do more than it is asked to. Data management departments that want more expandable database capabilities would do well to look instead to BASIC, C, C++, or various web-based languages.
However, if database querying and reporting is what you need the most, it’s very likely that the database application you use to perform those tasks runs on top of SQL. Programmers design SQL to be fast and efficient. A nice consequence of its limited functionality is that it performs its designated tasks very quickly. Data recovery, even of large amounts of data, is almost instantaneous. Manipulating the data takes a little longer in terms of milliseconds, but the difference will probably not be noticeable to human users. In this case, limited functionality is not a disadvantage, but an advantage.
However, these days it’s not just Oracle and IBM who are designing in SQL. Many others are doing it too. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft leads this class. The creator of Windows has its own version of SQL, which is more server-based and accordingly called Microsoft SQL Server. Microsoft’s hugely popular Access database program runs this version of SQL. Other familiar SQL-based database programs include FileMaker Pro, FoxPro, and the open source-based MySQL.
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