Course

How Does It Work?

This course is targeted at beginners who want to learn SQL basics quickly. The course takes approximately six hours and happens online on Zoom. The course alternates between lecture-style components, explaining SQL commands and relevant context, and hands-on exercises in which participants apply their SQL knowledge to scenarios inspired by real-world use cases. Participants can ask questions during the course and obtain feedback on their exercise solutions.

The course consists of three parts. Each part starts with a lecture of approximately one hour. Then, participants solve exercises, based on the lecture material for 45 minutes. While solving exercises, participants can interact with the instructor and obtain live feedback on their solutions. A reference solution is discussed in the last 15 minutes. Note that this is a tentative schedule and the actual schedule may deviate due to the interactive nature of the course. The following topics are discussed in each part:

Defining an SQL database schema
Adding schema constraints
Loading data into a database
Updating and deleting data
Exporting data from a database

Part 1: SQL Basics

Duration: 120 minutes

Filtering data using predicates
Projection with complex expressions
Inner joins between tables
Grouping data and aggregation
Sorting data

Part 2: Simple Analysis

Duration: 120 minutes

SQL Null values
Outer joins between tables
Uncorrelated sub-queries
Correlated sub-queries
Multiple levels of nested queries

Part 3: Advanced Analysis

Duration: 135 minutes

Note: This course is not offered by, endorsed by, or connected to Cornell University. Cornell affiliates such as students and staff members are excluded from participation.