Types of Database Languages and Their Uses
We accumulate a lot of data for which we need a lot of space in our storage systems, be it our phones or computers. Similarly, websites work with and accumulate a lot of data every day for which they need storage space that can not just store it but organize and protect it. We call it a database.
Databases are designed to store a large collection of data, organize the information and make it accessible for multiple users at a time with optimal speed. It is a very important part of programming which is why there are separate languages for databases. These languages help developers to maintain, and monitor the database and help in its management. They allow users to perform tasks like controlling and accessing data, updating and defining it, searching for information in DBMS, etc.
There are 4 categories of languages for database
- DDL or Data Defining Language
- DML or Data Manipulation Language
- DCL or Data Control Language
- TCL or Transaction Control Language
Data Defining Language
This language helps create the database framework by specifying the database schema, and the structure representing data organization. It is commonly used for tables and alteration of tables, indexes, files, and columns in the database.
Data Manipulation Language
This language provides operations for handling user requests and manipulating and accessing the data stored by users in the database. It is commonly used for updating, inserting, and retrieving data.
Data Control Language
As the name suggests, this language controls access to the data stored by the users in the database. This language controls the rights and permissions of the database and allows users to grant or revoke database privileges.
Transaction Control Language
This language manages the database transactions. A transaction is essentially a group of tasks related to each other and for a transaction to work, all tasks must succeed.
Some of the languages for databases that you would want to learn are:
SQL
Structured Query Language (SQL) is one of the most popular database languages. It features both data manipulation and data definition which allows users to write queries in a database. This language helps in extracting and managing data in a relational DBMS. If you are someone wanting to learn web development, you will come across SQL questions like how to create a SQL table, how to write an SQL query, etc. very often as this is the most used database language.
XQuery
This language allows extraction and manipulation of data in XML formats which is used to share data on the internet. Developers use this language to access or retrieve any data source in XML format. You can search text documents on the web and generate reports within XML databases, etc with XQuery.
SQL/XML
This is a combination of SQL and XQuery and supports the storage and manipulation of XML data that works with SQL in the database. This language is very handy for extracting content from XML documents or ensuring compatibility with future systems and optimizations that may support only XML.
OQL
Object Query Language (OQL) is an object-oriented database language where data is represented as variables, data structures, or functions. This is popular for helping in storing large amounts of complex data.
LINQ
Language Integrated Query (LINQ) extracts and processes data from relational databases, XML documents, and other third-party sources. LINQ allows accessing data through various sources without the need of using different database languages for each source.
Databases are very important for a web app to function which is why it is further important to learn these languages well. Hope this blog was able to talk well about the type of languages for database and their uses.
