SQL (Structured Query Language) is a standard language used for managing and manipulating relational databases. It was initially developed by IBM in the 1970s and has since become the standard language for interacting with relational database management systems (RDBMS). SQL allows users to create, modify, and retrieve data from a database. It provides a set of commands or statements that can be used to perform various operations on the data, such as querying, inserting, updating, and deleting records. Some key features of SQL include: 1. Data Definition Language (DDL): SQL includes DDL commands that allow users to define the structure of a database, including creating tables, specifying columns and their data types, defining constraints like primary keys and foreign keys. 2. Data Manipulation Language (DML): SQL provides DML commands that allow users to insert new data into a database, update existing data, retrieve data based on specific conditions using queries, and delete data from tables. 3. Data Control Language (DCL): SQL includes DCL commands that enable users to control access to the database by granting or revoking privileges to specific users or roles. 4. Data Query Language (DQL): SQL's DQL commands are used for retrieving and manipulating data from one or more tables using various query clauses like SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY. SQL is widely used in various domains such as web development, data analysis, business intelligence reporting, and more. Many popular RDBMS systems such as MySQL, Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server use SQL as their primary language for managing databases. Overall, SQL is important in providing an efficient way to manage large amounts of structured data and perform complex operations on it with ease. To complete the functionalities of [[SQL]], there is a class of database technologies called: [[NoSQL]]. # References ```dataview Table title as Title, authors as Authors where contains(subject, "SQL") ```