1 Before you begin
Nearly every act of our lives generates data. Every purchase we make, every mile we travel, and every internet link we click adds to a colossal amount of ever-growing data, which for many organizations has become their most valued asset. This data is often stored in a relational database, which keeps the data secure, scalable, and available to be constantly read and modified by innumerable users.
But how exactly can these users work with the data in a relational database? More important, how can you read and write data that is critical to your organization? The answer, and the subject of this book, is Structured Query Language, more commonly known as SQL.
1.1 Why SQL matters
Now, you may be wondering whether SQL is important enough for you to invest an entire month of lunches in it. Be assured that learning this language is undoubtedly one of the best skills anyone who uses data can acquire. Even though much of the data of our modern lives is stored in relational databases from different brands, such as Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM, nearly all use SQL to work with data and have been using it for quite some time.