Week 2 CST363

I appreciate how flexible SQL can be when it comes to joining tables on any column or predicate. The idea that SQL joins don't always have to rely on primary and foreign keys is interesting as there are scenarios where other columns might be more relevant for a join. For example, if you wanted to join two tables based on the date column instead of keys, that would make sense when analyzing data trends over time. an 

Example:

English: Join the orders table and the Shipped_Dates table to find all orders that were shipped after their order date.

SQL:

SELECT Orders.OrderID, Shipped_Dates.ShipDate 
FROM Orders 
JOIN Shipped_Dates 
ON Orders.OrderDate < Shipped_Dates.ShipDate;

What I find interesting about SQL is its simplicity in expressing complex operations. It’s a language that, although a bit technical, can sometimes feel quite intuitive once you understand the fundamentals of querying and table relationships. However, translating English questions to SQL can sometimes be a challenge, especially when the question is vague or requires complex joins involving multiple tables and conditions.

In my opinion, SQL is relatively straightforward to learn, especially when compared to more challenging  programming languages. But the trickiest part for me is ensuring that I'm joining tables in a way that maintains data integrity while still getting the exact results I need.

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