Understanding SQL Flavors: PostgreSQL vs SQL Server Explained

Key Takeaways

our last Topic in this short course is SQL flavors SQL has a few different versions or flavors some are free While others have customer support and are made to complement major databases such as Microsoft's SQL server or Oracle database which are used by many companies all SQL flavors are used with table-based relational databases like the ones we've seen and the vast majority of keywords are shared between them in fact all SQL flavors must follow Universal standards set by the International Organization for standards and the American national standards Institute only additional features on top of these standards result in different SQL flavors let's take a look at two of the most popular SQL flavors postgressql is a free and open-source relational database system which was originally created at the University of California Berkeley and was sponsored by America's famous defense Advanced research projects agency or DARPA DARPA also sponsored research leading to creating the internet the computer mouse and GPS the name postgressql is used to refer to both the database system itself as well as the SQL flavor used with it SQL server is also a relational database system that comes in both free and Enterprise versions it was created by Microsoft so it pairs well with other Microsoft products t-sql is Microsoft's proprietary flavor of SQL used with SQL Server databases think of SQL flavors as dialects of the same language if Claudia speaks American English she will have no trouble understanding people on a trip to London even though most people in London speak British English and there are some small differences here's an example of a small difference between SQL server and postgressql when we want to limit the number of Records returned we use the limit keyword in postgressql here we limit the number of employee names and IDs selected to only the first two records the exact same results are achieved in SQL server using the top keyword instead of limit notice that this keyword is the only difference between the two queries limiting results is useful when testing code since many result sets can have thousands of results it's best to write and test code using just a few results before removing the limit for the final query new SQL Learners May wonder which flavor they should learn this may be an easy decision if a learner knows that her employer uses Microsoft's SQL server for example or it might be a hard one for a job Seeker or student who doesn't know what database management system a future employer might use don't worry too much about what flavor to learn as we've seen the differences are small a postgressql wizard can become a SQL Server wizard by learning a handful of different keywords [Music]