macromedia® Coldfusion® MX 7 Web Application Construction Kit

Chapter 6. Introducing SQL

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding Data Sources 2

Creating A Data Source 3

Preparing to Write SQL Queries 9

Creating Queries 10

Sorting Query Results 13

Filtering Data 15

SQL—pronounced “sequel" or “S-Q-L”—is an acronym for Structured Query Language, a language you use to access and manipulate data in a relational database. It was designed to be easy to learn and extremely powerful, and its mass acceptance by many database vendors proves that it has succeeded in both.

In 1970, Dr. E. F. Codd, the man called the father of the relational database, described a universal language for data access. In 1974, engineers at IBM's San Jose Research Center created the Structured English Query Language, or SEQUEL, built on Codd's ideas. This ...