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Start Here
  • What is a database?
  • What is SQL?
  • SQL syntax
  • SQL datatypes
  • How to run queries (tooling)
  • How to read tables/ERDs
SQL Foundations
  • SELECT / FROM
  • ORDER BY
  • LIMIT / OFFSET
  • DISTINCT
  • Aliases
Filtering
  • WHERE
  • AND / OR / NOT
  • IN / BETWEEN
  • LIKE
  • NULL (IS NULL, COALESCE)
Aggregation
  • COUNT / SUM / AVG / MIN / MAX
  • GROUP BY
  • HAVING
  • CASE & Conditional Aggregation
Joins
  • Joins Intro
  • INNER JOIN
  • LEFT JOIN
  • RIGHT JOIN
  • FULL OUTER JOIN
  • CROSS JOIN
  • Self Join
  • Join Debugging: Duplicates & Missing Rows
  • UNION vs UNION ALL
Subqueries & CTEs
  • Subqueries (IN / EXISTS)
  • Correlated Subqueries
  • WITH (CTEs)
Window Functions
  • OVER / PARTITION BY / ORDER BY
  • ROW_NUMBER / RANK / DENSE_RANK
  • LAG / LEAD
  • Moving Averages & Running Totals
  • QUALIFY
Data Cleaning
  • String Cleanup
  • Date Parsing
  • Deduping
Analytics Patterns
  • Top-N Per Group
  • Cohorts & Retention
  • Funnels
  • Rolling Metrics & Period-over-Period
Performance Modeling
  • Index Intuition
  • Normal Forms
  • Reading Explain Plans
Capstone
  • Capstone Part 1: KPI Baseline
  • Capstone Part 2: Cohorts & Retention
  • Capstone Part 3: Segments & Recommendation
Home / Course / Start Here

Start Here

Learn SQL start here with practical examples and guided drills on dbSyntax.

Start with What is a database?

What is a database?

Beginner

A database is an organized collection of data stored in a way that makes it easy to: Add new data Find data Update data Delete data Think of...

What is SQL?

Beginner

SQL stands for Structured Query Language. If a database is where data lives, SQL is how you ask it questions. It is one of the fastest ways ...

SQL syntax

Beginner

Good SQL is rarely about clever tricks. Most of the time, it is about getting structure right: what to select, where it comes from, how it i...

SQL datatypes

Beginner

A column name tells you what a value represents. Its datatype tells the database how that value should behave....

How to run queries (tooling)

Beginner

Writing SQL is only half of the skill. The other half is running queries in a clean loop: write, run, inspect, and refine. This lesson shows...

How to read tables/ERDs

Beginner

Reading tables and ERDs is the fastest way to understand an unfamiliar dataset. Before writing complex SQL, you should know table grain, key...

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