22 Mar 2017 Marian Dziubiak Improving Query Readability with Common Table Expressions What is a Common Table Expression, or CTE? Where do you use them, and why? This post answers your questions. Simply put, Common Table Expressions (also known as WITH clauses) are essentially named subqueries. They also provide additional features like recursion. If you're new to subqueries, I recommend you read the SQL Subqueries article before continuing. The main purpose of Common Table Expressions is to improve the design and readability of an SQL statement. Read more 1 Mar 2017 Marian Dziubiak SQL Development? Structured Query Language and Apps You know about using SQL with databases. How does SQL fit in with app development? Is there anything like SQL development? In this post, we look at the app development process, how it intersects with modeling a database, and what developers can do with SQL outside of their app. Obviously, the beginning of this process is defining your app — what it does, who it is for, how it will function and look, etc. Read more 18 Jan 2017 Marian Dziubiak Getting the Hang of the GROUP BY Clause GROUP BY is an important part of the SQL SELECT statement. But new SQL coders can run into some problems when this clause is used incorrectly. Here’s how to avoid those issues. You’re learning SQL. You know how to SELECT some data FROM a table and how to filter the data with a WHERE clause. You can process the data using aggregate functions (MIN, MAX, SUM, AVG, and others). But when you’re dealing with a lot of data, you may need to narrow it down even more. Read more