Working with Data

Relational databases can be conceptualized as a set of spreadsheets (tables) linked together by shared columns (attributes) amongst the tables. Using relational databases (rather than simply using spreadsheets) can help keep data more organized and reduce data redundancy, which is particularly useful at times when data needs to be updated or deleted. Database management systems are software applications used to make database management and user interaction easier.​

• Relational Database Concepts for Beginners (pdf)
• What is a Database, really? Data Storage for Librarians by Ryan Deschamps
• Lynda.com: Programming Foundations: Databases (3hr 11m)

Non-relational databases (NoSQL) provide means of accessing data that cannot be stored in a relational format. NoSQL databases such as MongoDB are particularly useful for "large volumes of rapidly changing structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data," "agile sprints, quick schema iteration, and frequent code pushes," "object-oriented programming that is easy to use and flexible," and "geographically distributed scale-out architecture instead of expensive, monolithic architecture."

• Lynda.com : Learning NoSQL Databases

SQL (sometimes pronounced see-quil) is a programming language used for databases. Databases can be stored and queried from a number of open-source and proprietary software that use variants of SQL such as MySQL, MS SQL Server, SQLite, and PostgreSQL. Most of the SQL syntax is shared among these database types, but some have additional functionality.

General

• Database Tutorial (Quackit)
• Introduction to Database Relationships (Lifewire)

Oracle

• Oracle SQL, A Beginner's Tutorial
• Introduction to Oracle Database
• Oracle SQL Lanugage Reference
• Oracle Live SQL - Must Create an Oracle Account (all contact info required)

MySQL

• MySQL Documntation

• A reference source, with examples:
  • SQL Tutorial from Quacki
  • SQL Tutorial from Do Factory
• Try it yourself, no installation needed:
  • Introduction to SQL from W3Schools
  • SQLZoo
• Try it on your own computer:
  • Lynda.com: Learning SQL Programming (1hr 27m)
  • uses DB Browser for SQLite

Additional Reference Sources

• SQL Tutorial (TutorialsPoint)
• The SQL Tutorial for Data Analysis (Mode Analytics)

Follow Along Tutorials

• Intro to SQL for Data Science (DataCamp) -- Free interactive course, requires creating an account
• An Introduction to SQL Databases for Data Analysis Part I & Part 2 (School of Data) -- uses sqlite3
• Data Analysis using SQL (Kaggle/Dima Rudov) -- Uses Python
• SQL: Data Reporting and Analysis (Lynda.com) -- Intermediate level (2h), allows any software, recommends phpmyadmin