SQL for Beginners: write Queries and create Database

In this course I will explain from scratch everything you need to analyze data from a relational database using the SQL language. You will acquire a skill sought by recruiters in a practical, comfortable and fast way. You will learn how to use a powerful and flexible tool to analyze your data that pushes the boundaries of Excel.

I have reported in these videos all those teaching methods that I have refined during the thousand and more hours of live teaching. We will start by learning how to write SQL queries to query a database. We will see in particular the operations of:

• filtering data

• grouping data

• combining data

• transforming data

through the SQL statements SELECT, FROM, JOIN, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, ORDER BY, Subquery and CTE.

Then we will then study how to create a database from zero, creating the tables and their constraints, analyzing the instructions for updating and populating a database, even starting from csv files.

We will use the SQL Server Express Edition database, which I consider the best to use for educational purposes due to its clarity, completeness and rigidity in the syntax. The necessary software can be easily installed on all PCs with a Windows operating system. On the other hand, on Mac and Linux the installation is less immediate, for example it requires the use of Docker and is not covered in the course.

What you DON’T find in the course:

• slides or power point presentations containing “theory”;

• conceptual design and E-R model;

• database administration tasks. The course is aimed at SQL programmers and not DBAs, so there are no topics such as backup, restore, user creation and login;

• indexing and performance analysis.

What you find in the course:

• all you need to learn how to write queries with the main SQL keywords: SELECT, FROM, JOIN, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING and ORDER BY;

• write complex queries with CTE and subquery;

• create a database from scratch by creating tables with all types of constraints: type, null / not null, primary key, foreign key, check;

• populate and update a database, including by acquiring data from .csv files;

For each lesson you have the relative scripts available, full of comments and clarifications. Taken together, they constitute a true SQL manual.

Who this course is for:

• Anyone who wants to learn the SQL language and approach data analysis