5 SQL Queries Every Programmer Should Know

Pablo Matteo
2 min readMar 22, 2023

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Hi! Today, I want to share with you the 5 most important SQL queries that every programmer should know.

Let’s start with the SELECT query. This is the most fundamental query in SQL, allowing you to retrieve data from a particular table. You can select specific columns from the table to display in your results. For instance, if you’re working with a user table, you can use the SELECT query to retrieve the user’s name and age:

SELECT name, age FROM users;

Next up is the UPDATE query, which lets you modify data in a table. This is an essential query for making changes to your data. Suppose you want to update the price of a product in your database:

UPDATE products SET price = 30 WHERE id = 2;

The DELETE query allows you to remove records from a table. This query can be used to clean up your data or remove specific entries that are no longer relevant. For example, if you want to delete a customer from your database:

DELETE FROM customers WHERE id = 4;

The INSERT query is another vital SQL query that enables you to add new records to a table. This query is ideal for adding new products, customers, or any other relevant data to your database. For instance, if you want to add a new product to your store:

INSERT INTO products (name, price, stock) VALUES ('New Product', 40, 10);

Finally, we have the JOIN query, which lets you combine data from multiple tables. This query is essential when you need to obtain information from several tables simultaneously. Suppose you want to get a list of products that have been sold with their sale date:

SELECT p.name, v.sale_date FROM products p JOIN sales v ON p.id = v.product_id;

SQL queries are the backbone of most databases, and having a solid understanding of the essential queries is crucial for any programmer. So, embrace the world of SQL and use these queries to build robust databases that can handle any task thrown at them!

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