For example, if you had a database table named "employees" and wanted to retrieve all records of employee with the last name "goodman", you would use the following SQL statement:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE lastname = 'goodman';

There are many different categories of SQL statements, but the basic ones with which all web developers should be familiar are SQL statements that:

1. Create tables and manipulate their definitions.
2. Query the table data.
3. Manipulate the table data.

SQL Uses

SQL is predominantly used by 2 types of users - programs and humans (keying in commands through a database client) - to pass instructions to databases. SQL commands can be keyed into a database client, like the MySQL Query Browser or the SQL Server Enterprise Manager, and executed to either return a result or modify records in the database. SQL can also be used in conjunction with a programming language or scripting language like Microsoft Visual Basic or PHP to communicate with the database.

Although SQL is a world standard, it is unfortunate that most database vendors have come up with different dialects and variations. Database vendors seek to differentiate their database products from the crowd. An example would be Microsoft SQL Server's TRANSACT-SQL. TRANSACT-SQL is a superset of SQL, and is designed for use only with Microsoft SQL Server. Although it does make programming much easier for web developers, it is not compliant with other databases like Oracle or MySQL - making TRANSACT-SQL programs non database-portable. Although many of these features are powerful and robust, exercise caution and make sure your SQL use is compliant with the ANSI/ISO SQL standards and ODBC-Compliant.

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