Progress
SQL-92
Guide and Reference


Introduction to SQL

To better utilize SQL-92, it is important to understand the purpose of the language and it’s capabilities.

What is SQL?

SQL is an industry-standard language specifically designed to enable people to define database structure, add and maintain data, and query data. SQL has become the standard way to represent and maintain data in a relational database.

Why use SQL?

The SQL-92 interface supports ESQL/C and open interfaces of ODBC and JDBC. Any ODBC or JDBC-complaint application will have access to the database. This provides a wide range of access to Progress data for reporting and development solutions.

SQL-92 supports a completely separate interface from the 4GL, but both interfaces use a Shared Database Storage Engine that handles low-level database functions. By sharing this Storage Engine, memory is saved and efficiency is gained regarding key database processing. This architecture also provides SQL-92 and 4GL clients concurrent access to data.

How do you use SQL?

SQL-92 must be used with other programming languages, such as COBOL, LISP, or C. Progress Software provides a precompiler for SQL statements embedded in the C Language. See the Progress Embedded SQL-92 Guide and Reference for a complete description of the semantics of Progress Embedded SQL-92 elements, and for information on how to use SQL in a C Language program.

The SQL-92 international standards document defines the language, but does not provide recommendations for design, or examples. See "SQL Resources," for references to comprehensive books on applying the SQL-92 standard in a development environment.


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