08. Text + Quiz: Types of Databases

Types of Databases

SQL Databases

There are many different types of SQL databases designed for different purposes. In this course we will use Postgres within the classroom, which is a popular open-source database with a very complete library of analytical functions.

Some of the most popular databases include:

  1. MySQL
  2. Access
  3. Oracle
  4. Microsoft SQL Server
  5. Postgres

You can also write SQL within other programming frameworks like Python, Scala, and HaDoop.

Small Differences

Each of these SQL databases may have subtle differences in syntax and available functions -- for example, MySQL doesn’t have some of the functions for modifying dates as Postgres. Most of what you see with Postgres will be directly applicable to using SQL in other frameworks and database environments. For the differences that do exist, you should check the documentation. Most SQL environments have great documentation online that you can easily access with a quick Google search.

The article here compares three of the most common types of SQL: SQLite, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

You will use PostgreSQL for the lessons in this course, but you are not required to download it to your machine. We provide SQL workspaces in the classroom throughout the lessons. You may download PostgreSQL here if you'd like though.

So with that, let's jump in!

Check all of the below that are true about your learning experience here in the classroom.
SOLUTION:
  • The code you write in the classroom is exactly what you would write to analyze data in PostgreSQL.
  • The code you write in the classroom will allow you to easily pick up any SQL programming including Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, or SQLite.

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