1 Introduction to Oracle SQL

Structured Query Language (SQL) is the set of statements with which all programs and users access data in an Oracle database. Application programs and Oracle tools often allow users access to the database without using SQL directly, but these applications in turn must use SQL when executing the user's request. This chapter provides background information on SQL as used by most database systems.

This chapter contains these topics:

• History of SQL

• SQL Standards

• Recent Enhancements

• Lexical Conventions

• Tools Support