The goal of this video is to provide me with the basic knowledge that you need to use SQL effectively in

any database environment. Because most modern database systems were developed before SQL was
standardized, each system tends to use variations of the language. Some of these variations deviate
from the standard. This whole video uses SQLite for all the demonstrations. SQLite is likely different
from the database system and that's okay, every database system is different, and each has their own
variations of SQL. SQLite follows the standard more closely than most other database systems. SQLite
comes pre-installed on most platforms including most web servers, mobile devices, and even most
desktop operating systems, and the entire database is stored in a single cross-platform file. To keep in
mind that other database systems will be different. Most database systems predate the standard by
many years, they may need to support a lot of non-standard legacy code. The syntax used by the system
may vary from the standard, and some standard features may be missing, and other non-standard
features may be common practice. This course covers standard SQL, so that you're well prepared for
whatever environment you'll be using. While it's important to understand that the database system will
have a unique set of features and usages, this course aims to prepare you by providing a solid
foundation in standard SQL. It starts from the basics, on how databases are organized, and how
relational databases work. It explains that on how to use the select statement, how to create, update,
and delete data from your tables. It shows the details of SQL syntax, on how to effectively format the
code, and how the basic structure of SQL. To follow along with the lessons, with the exercise files are to
make my learning experience easier.

The goal of this chapter is to give you a quick overview of the fundamentals of SQL. This will help you
navigate the rest of the course's concepts and exercises. Each lesson in this chapter will teach you how
to use a specific SQL statement or concept. These lessons aren't exhaustive, and they'll leave out a lot of
important information. These specifics will be discussed later in the course. SQL was created with one
goal in mind: to operate and manage a relational database. SQL is a simple language with a simple
syntax that can perform complex operations. In SQL, a statement is the unitive execution. We have a
SELECT statement in this example that retrieves rows from the customer table, where the Continent
column has the value of a literal string, Europe. A semicolon is used to end a SQL statement. Although
the semicolon isn't always required in all situations and implementations, it's always a good idea to use
it. One or more clauses are common in SQL statements. This is where the FROM clause comes in. This
specifies which table will be used by the SELECT statement. The WHERE clause is also used to specify
which rows will be chosen. The WHERE clause necessitates the use of an expression. An expression
yields a result. In SQL, expressions are common and can be used with a variety of clauses. This is a logical
statement. All of these elements work together to make a statement. It is possible for a statement to be
simple or complex. Throughout this course, we'll see many examples of statements. The four basic
functions of a database system are create, read, update, and delete, which are commonly abbreviated
as CRUD. The simplest forms of each of these essential operations will be covered in this chapter. The
SELECT statement is used in standard SQL for all queries that return values. Non-standard statements in
some database engines can also retrieve information from the database, usually metadata about the
database itself. The SELECT statement is used to retrieve data from a database in standard SQL. It's the R
in CRUD, and it's probably the most commonly used statement. We'll spend some time with SELECT in
this chapter. We'll go over some of the most important features and options so you can pick rows and
columns from a table quickly. To add a row to a table, use the INSERT statement. This is the letter C in
the acronym CRUD. You can specify the table, the columns, and the data that will be filled in those
columns with INSERT. It's worth noting that this INSERT statement is split across two lines. This is a
common technique for making text more readable. The second line is indented to show that it is part of
the same statement. The whitespace in the statement is ignored, and the statement ends with a
semicolon. To change data, use the UPDATE statement. This is the letter U in the acronym CRUD. The
WHERE clause is used to specify which row(s) should be updated. Notice how I've indented the
assignment expressions to show that they're related to the SET clause. This isn't required, but it's
common and helps with readability. To remove rows from a table, use the DELETE statement. This is the
letter D in the acronym CRUD. The WHERE clause is used once more to specify which row or rows should
be deleted. In the rest of this chapter, you'll see examples of these statements, and we'll go over each of
them in greater depth later in the course.