SQL Basics: Working with Databases

SQL, pronounced “sequel” (or ess-cue-ell, if you prefer), is a very important tool for data scientists to have in their repertoire. You may well have heard the name and wondered what it is, how it works and whether you should learn it. To put it simply, SQL (Structured Query Language) is the language of databases and almost all companies use databases to store their data.




Because of this, no matter whether you prefer to use Python, R or something else for analysis, you’ll need to have at least a basic knowledge of SQL to be able to access the data, to begin with. Job Search Engine Indeed shows over 100,000 job listings in the US that mention SQL at the time of writing.

There are a few different database systems (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server to name a few) but all of them speak SQL, so once you’ve got the hang of the basics you’ll be able to work with any of them.

In this tutorial, we’ll start basic examples of Datasets like; Students database, College database, University database.