Data Analytics I (SQL) Course Syllabus

Unit 1 Introduction to Data, Databases and SQL

Section 1
● Define and explain the purpose of data and the most widely used data types.
● Understand the hierarchy of units used to calculate data size.
● Calculate the size of your own data.
● Define and explain the purpose of databases.
● Understand relational vs. non-relational databases.
● Use design and ethics principles to guide database use, including referential
integrity and ACID.
● Learn about the Structured Query Language (SQL) and its history.
● Understand the main differences between various SQL flavors: PostgreSQL,
MySQL, and SQLite.
● Learn further details about PostgreSQL, which will be used in this course.

Section 2
● Examine the structure of a SQL database.
● Use the SELECT statement to display all columns of a table.
● Understand that SQL is case-insensitive.
● Understand the purpose of the keyword NULL and SQL's three-valued logic.
● Order query results using ORDER BY.
● Limit the number of results using the keyword LIMIT.

Section 3
● Use the SELECT statement to only display one column of interest.
● Use the SELECT statement to display two or more columns.
● Change the order of the displayed columns if needed.
● Skip some rows in the output using the keyword OFFSET.
● Order multiple columns at the same time.

Section 4
 ● Filter the results of queries using the keyword WHERE.
● Access a table in a schema by typing schema.table.
● Remove duplicate results with SELECT DISTINCT.

Section 5
● Use aggregate functions:
○ Function COUNT() to count results.
○ Functions MIN(), MAX() to find minimum and maximum values.
○ Functions SUM(), AVG() to calculate the sum and average of values,
respectively.
● Narrow down queries using WHERE ... LIKE ... and WHERE ... BETWEEN ...
● Combine multiple conditions in the search using the keywords AND, OR, NOT.

Unit 2 SQL Queries

Section 6
● Practice basic SQL queries by exploring the Northwind database and in particular the
table Employees.

Section 7
● Practice basic SQL queries by exploring the table Products of the Northwind
database.

Section 8
● Practice basic SQL queries by exploring the table Products of the Northwind
database.
● Use SQL for calculations
● Use the WHERE ... IN … clause.

Section 9
● Practice basic SQL queries by exploring the table Order Details of the Northwind
database.
● Create new columns and name them using the keyword AS
● Group results for better readability using the GROUP BY … and GROUP BY …
HAVING … clauses.
Section 10
● Practice basic SQL queries by exploring the Customers table of the Northwind
database.

Unit 3 Creating and Managing Tables

Section 11
● Explain the different data types in the SQL standard and in PostgreSQL.
● Create and drop schemata.
● Learn about the two schemata in NCLab where you can store your own data.
● Create tables.

Section 12
● Insert complete rows (without using column names).
● Insert incomplete rows (without using column names).
● Insert incomplete rows (using the names of columns).

Section 13
● Insert multiple rows at once.
● Create a new table by copying an existing table.
● Create a new empty table which has the same structure as an existing table.
● Create a new table by copying selected rows from an existing table.

Section 14
● Insert selected rows from a table into an existing table.
● Use the powerful statement ALTER TABLE to modify tables, such as:
○ rename tables,
○ add / rename / drop (= delete) columns,
○ change data types of columns, etc.
● Delete all rows from a table, selected rows, or entire tables.
● Delete selected rows from a table.
● Delete entire tables.
 ● Understand that the result of the VALUES clause and of the SELECT statement is a
TABLE.

Section 15
● Define constraints and specify default values.

Unit 4 Joining Tables

Section 16
● Combine data from two different tables using the inner join operation.
● Initially, the tables are matched based on a shared column of the same name.
● Write inner joins in three simple steps:
○ Basic SELECT query followed by the columns one wants to display,
○ Add INNER JOIN followed by the second table name,
○ Add USING followed by the name of the shared column in parentheses.
● Join three and more tables, and that joining multiple tables is equally simple as joining
just two.

Section 17
● Review the structure of the tables in the schema World.
● Perform an inner join of tables based on columns of different names, using the
keyword ON.
● Abbreviated table names using the keyword AS.
● Understand that some keywords (for example, AS) can be omitted.
● Write inner joins using an alternative (implicit) syntax without the keywords
INNER JOIN and USING/ON.

Section 18
● Practice inner joins by solving practical tasks related to the schema World.

Section 19
● Review the schema Northwind, and then perform calculations which require
combining data from various tables in this schema.
● Combine inner joins with filtering, grouping and other basic SQL techniques.
Section 20
● Practice inner joins performing calculations which combine data from various tables
in the schema Northwind.
● Combine inner joins with filtering, grouping and other basic SQL techniques.

Unit 5 Conditional Expressions

Section 21
● Understand the difference between a statement and an expression.
● Insert "intelligent" conditional expressions into your queries using the keyword
CASE.
● Use both the “searched version” of the CASE expression which is more versatile, and the
“simple (switch) version”.
● Combine a CASE expression with an inner join.

Section 22
● Learn about additional important applications of conditional expressions
including:
● How to use them to split values into different columns.
● How to count non-NULL values in the columns of a SELECT statement.
● How to use conditional expressions in aggregate functions COUNT, SUM, MIN,
MAX, AVG.
● Understand the difference between using conditional expressions and the
WHERE clause.

Section 23
● Simplify filtering values in aggregate functions using the FILTER clause.
● Learn how integer division works in SQL, and how to prevent potential problems which
it may cause.
Section 24
● Learn about various situations which can cause an error in SQL, and how to
prevent them using suitable CASE expressions. In particular, learn how to prevent
division-by-zero errors.
● Learn how SQL responds when NULL values are combined with numbers and text
strings.
● Use CASE expressions in the ORDER BY clause.

Section 25
● Replace NULL with selected values using the function COALESCE
● Replace selected values with NULL using the function NULLIF.
● Learn about the relation between these functions and the conditional expression CASE.
● Replace values in tables by combining the COALESCE and NULLIF functions.

Unit 6 Text Strings

Unit 7 Sets and Subqueries

Unit 8 Advanced Joins

Unit 9 Introduction to Data Analysis with Python