Data Types in SQL

Welcome to Data Types in SQL! This is the second course in the Creating Database Structure track. We assume that you already know how to create a table in SQL. If not, take The Basics of Creating Tables in SQL before you start this course.

Data types are extremely important. A data type tells the database the kind of information (number, text, date, etc.) each column will store. It influences the functions and operations you can do on a column, how much space the column will take, how the database stores the data internally, and so on.

In this course, we will discuss the most basic data types and the primary differences between them. After you complete the exercises, you’ll know how to select the right data type for whatever information you want to store.

This interactive tutorial is based on standard SQL. But don't worry. The data types shown here will work in all popular relational database management systems, including SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL.

Are you a beginning IT professional, computer science student, or database administrator (DBA)? Do you work as a programmer or developer? If you need to understand or work with data types in a relational database, this is the perfect course for you.

In Data Types in SQL, we discuss:

• Text data types that can store short texts of variable length (VARCHAR) and predefined length (CHAR). We also talk about data types that store text files (TEXT, CLOB).
• Numerical data types and the differences between integer types (INTEGER), floating point numbers (DOUBLE PRECISION), and decimal numbers (DECIMAL).
• Identity columns and sequences, which auto-generate values and primary key identifiers (GENERATED ALWAYS BY DEFAULT, GENERATED ALWAYS BY DEFAULT AS IDENTITY).
• Boolean and date/time data types, which are used to store true and false values (BOOLEAN) or date and time data (DATE, TIME, TIMESTAMP).
• How to modify a column’s data type, e.g. when can you alter a column’s defined data type and what happens to the data when you do.

This course is interactive. You’ll learn how to work with different data types by writing real SQL commands and solving exercises directly in your web browser. Our platform runs your command and verifies your solution. You don’t need to install any software.