Introduction to SQL

Gain a solid working knowledge of the most powerful and widely used database programming language. This course will provide you the skills to write SQL queries to create tables, retrieve data from single or multiple tables, manipulate data in a database, and gather statistics from data stored in a database.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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Augusta Technical College

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$129

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Instructor-Moderated

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Starting April 16 | May 14

Details + Objectives

Course code: sql

Learn the key concepts of SQL (Structured Query Language) the powerful and standard database management query language for relational databases.

SQL (Structured Query Language) is one of the best programming languages for beginning web developers to learn. This course will teach you the basics of designing and writing SQL queries to execute on a practice database. Using a SQL Server Express, you'll learn several real-world applications for SQL so you can put this valuable skill set on your resume.

What you will learn

Use SQL to develop a relational database
Design table and row structures that fulfill your requirements
Write efficient SQL queries to find and organize data
Write SQL queries to retrieve data from multiple tables
Create updates for a secure, high-performance database

How you will benefit

Gain confidence in your SQL ability, the standard database query language
Open the door to opportunities as you list basic SQL programming as a skill on your resume
Develop a new skill and learn whether or not you would like a career in IT

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

In this introductory lesson, you will examine database terms and concepts. Understanding the purpose of a database is foundational to writing efficient SQL queries that retrieve the right data.

In this lesson, you will install SQL Server Express and the SQL Server Management Studio to use throughout the course in your learn-by-doing practices. You will use SQL code to create one of the tables for the practice database in SQL Server.

SQL queries are the statements used to retrieve data from the database. Queries are written in a specific, logical order. In this lesson, you will explore various ways to write SQL queries to retrieve data that meet defined criteria.

SQL queries are defined and written to retrieve data in a certain order. Queries are also written to limit columns and to filter data rows. In this lesson, you will practice writing queries that meet defined criteria and retrieve the expected result-sets.

This lesson is about designing SQL data tables for a database. You will explore the relationship concept and how it is used in an RDBMS. You will define tables that are structured according to RDBMS standards. You will also create the tables to add to your practice database.

In this lesson, you will add data to your newly defined tables. You will explore several methods of adding data to a table and practice writing and executing these query statements. After adding several individual rows to the tables, you will use a SQL query to populate your tables with enough data rows to use in the learn-by-doing practices in this course.

SQL JOIN statements are used to retrieve data from more than one table. In this lesson, you will practice writing JOIN statements that retrieve data from tables that have a relationship between their PKs and FKs.

In this lesson, you will continue writing JOIN statements that retrieve data result-sets from more than one table. You will also examine how and when to use SQL subquery statements to retrieve data from multiple tables. You will practice defining and writing JOIN and subquery queries.

The quality of the data in the database depends on its integrity, including the concepts of data accuracy and consistency. In this lesson, you will explore writing queries to maintain the database so that it is up to date with data that is accurate, consistent, and has integrity.

In this lesson, you will examine the concept of aggregate functions and how they are used in query statements to examine multiple rows. Aggregate functions are a method of retrieving summarized data that is useful for analysis.

SQL views are an important concept in database design and in using databases. In this lesson, you will explore designing and writing queries to create views. You will also explore the reason they are valuable for database security and database access.

Constraints are one way to maximize the integrity of the database and minimize the opportunity for user error. Indexes are used for increasing the performance of a data query. In this lesson, you will explore both these concepts.

Instructors & Support

Mava Wilson

Mava Wilson, Ph.D., is a professor with more than 28 years of teaching experience. While she specializes in Information Systems (IS), she has taught several computer science topics, including basic computer literacy, programming, database design, and SQL. She holds a Ph.D. and master's degree in computing technology from Nova Southeastern University, as well as a bachelor's in administrative systems from Radford University.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course must be taken on a PC. Macs are not compatible.
Dual monitors are helpful but are not required.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins. Student will install the required software in the course.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.
Necessary rights (local administrative rights) to install programs on the computer.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

SQL Server Express
SQL Server Management Studio

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It is the primary language that's used for interacting with and managing data held in relational database management systems and knowing it is a valuable skill. Its syntax is similar to English so it is said to be an easy programming language to learn. Using SQL, you can easily query, update and organize data as well as create and modify database structure. You can also control access of the data by other individuals. While it may sound like something you can handle in Microsoft Excel, it is much more capable of handling large amounts of data. In fact, it's designed to easily handle billions of cells of data.

There are several reasons to learn SQL including you will be able to answer questions about your business without having to rely on others to retrieve and distribute data. You can earn a high salary by learning SQL, and it is one of the skills employers are seeking most in our data-driven economy. You also won't ever have to try to remember how you created a report again as you can save and re-use past SQL queries.

SQL is considered a foundational programming skill. According to some, every software developer or programmer should know how to write SQL queries in order to retrieve data from a database. We live in a data-driven world and understanding how to access and analyze data is a skill that organizations need. Knowledge of SQL could be the first step in learning other programming languages as well.

SQL is one of the most sought-after skills in business as it allows users to interact with data using relational logic. In fact, according to a popular tech website, there are almost 20,000 jobs that require SQL knowledge posted every month! It allows users to access and report on mass amounts of data as well as save the queries that produce reports for quick, easy access in the future, so it's an important skill to bring to your organization no matter what industry you are in.

According to a popular tech website, there are almost 20,000 jobs that require SQL knowledge posted every month! There are literally dozens of professions the require knowledge of Microsoft SQL. Some of these include:

Software Engineer
Database Administrator
Business Analyst
Quality Assurance Tester
Systems Administrator
Data Analyst
SQL Server Developer
Quality Assurance Analyst
Back-end Developer
Data Scientist

Yes, professionals who understand how to write SQL are in high demand. There are tens of thousands of open positions across the country and around the world that require knowledge of SQL, and it is considered a foundational programming skill.

Businesses in almost every industry use SQL including education, government, finance, technology, manufacturing, retail, and others. It is used for a variety of business tasks including tracking product and sales data, storing financial data, calculating ROI, storing customer data, and more. It is used primarily in large organizations, but is also showing up in small to medium sized businesses as well.

Yes. SQL is considered a fourth-generation programming language (4GL) meaning that it is closer to human language than some of the other programming languages like Java. While it isn't as difficult to learn as C# or Java, it is definitely considered a programming language and one that many programmers learned as their first programming language.

SQL consists of three main components including: Data Definition Language (DDL), Data Manipulation Language (DML), and Data Control Language (DCL). DDL is used to create and modify tables and other objects. DML is used to manipulate data within a table and DCL is the component that creates privileges to allow others to access and manipulate the database.

SQL can perform four basic operations to allow you to interact with data. These operations include create, read, update and delete-also known as CRUD operations.

SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by the Microsoft Corporation. It was designed primarily to compete against MySQL. It is sometimes referred to as MSSQL or Microsoft SQL Server.

MySQL, developed by Oracle, is the most popular program used for the management of SQL databases. It is an open-source relational database management system which has millions of applications built using it.

Reviews

Great course. I will definitely be taking the follow-up course by this instructor.

Thank you for a very detailed, and well delivered course! Has been a great experience for me and will be extremely beneficial for my career.

I thought the class was well organized and easy to understand how to setup the software and migrate through each lesson. I would recommend this class to others.

Great course, each topic was broken down in easy to digest pieces that were easy to follow and understand especially for someone who's never used/studied SQL before.

This course was fantastic! The pace, content, and learning checks were very convenient to follow along. I genuinely feel I have a much better understanding of SQL from this course. I've attempted Udemy and LinkedIn SQL video courses before but they just didn't click with me. This was by far the best SQL learning experience I've had. I appreciate all the thought that went into putting this course together! I am definitely considering taking future courses.

Excellent / From beginning to end. Very detailed and hands on. I'd highly recommend this to the newcomer/novice who is interested in learning SQL.

Thank you for your constant encouragement and support. I am so glad you were there all along to be with me! I enjoyed studying and working along with you Professor Mava Wilson

SQL Beginner class was a great intro to SQL. I had been trying to learn SQL through other channels, but this class helped put it all into practice. This class truly helped me apply the skillset. Thank you.

Had no trouble following the examples and tasks in this lesson, appreciate all the checkpoints. Already a huge leg up on previous SQL courses I've attempted

It was a great class! It not only gave me the knowledge of SQL, but it also improved my abilities in other applications such as MS Access and MS Excel. The instructor presented the subject matter in a perfect balance of technical and practical. It was evident to me she has educational and in-the-field expert experience. She is also personable and helpful.

The course gave me a 'challenging' introduction to SQL. It introduced two types of databases that I had not previously used:Microsoft Access and SQL Query 7. The examples and assignments reinforced what had been taught in previous lessons. Thank you. I not only learned a great deal but had a good time.

Very nice introduction to SQL. This helped me gain a better basic understanding of things I'd been tampering with for several years. I could probably have saved myself many frustrating hours having taken a course like this a couple years back.

I was impressed with this class. After reading one of the discussion responses that I was actually doing intermediate to advanced work with SQL and understanding it, is a huge compliment to the instructor. I have never been on Access or done any work with any other databases before either. I have since gone onto my home computer and done a lot of work setting up databases with the help of this course. Thank you and I will definitely be taking more and taking the instructor’s advice on what to take in the future. Thank you again for a great class. After being unemployed for a year it is great to have something to make me feel good!