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. (Note: You do not need to install PostgreSQL on your computer, unless you really want to. We provide SQL environments in the classroom for you to work in.)

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. Again, once you have learned how to write SQL in one environment, the skills are mostly transferable.

So with that, let's jump in!