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Nathan gives a pretty good overview of the function of SQL servers, and the degree of standardization that is common to the language. As he mentions, it is important to have a Structured Query Language to manage databases in an understandable way, allowing us to find and modify data once the database has been created. After some initial confusion pertaining to the jargon used to describe how SQL works, I found the actual functions it implements to be very intuitive. Each function's name describes what it does. For example, the all-important SELECT function allows programs to search and retrieve data from a specific database table, with further modifiers embedded within the function to refine the search (FROM, WHERE, etc.), and organize the output (ORDER BY, GROUP BY). I found Wikipedia's explanation of this function (and others) very helpful.

Figure 1 - SELECT function explanation

I like that David describes the databases themselves as "glorified excel sheets," especially since this definition is coming from someone with some experience with databases. From my rudimentary understanding of the topic, that is exactly how I pictured and SQL database, some enormous table made up of labeled columns with rows of data beneath. It makes sense that by this system, and particular piece of data can be pinpointed by some row and column designation, much like an X and Y coordinate in the cartesian system.

What intrigued me most about this week's topic was not necessarily how the system works, but how often it needs to work. I gather from the articles I read, that every single user-interfaced program uses some form of database and query system to make it run. For simplified applications this may be a flat-file-database, as David explains. However it is my impression that, for the large majority of complex applications, the SQL format is used. A recent article puts into perspective the importance of the ability to manipulate and query these formatted data.  As our sensing capability and aptitude for data recording grows, the challenges involved in organizing, maintaining, and using this data also grows. For example in the medical field there are virtual reams of unused data pertaining to patient records, and no unified system for managing all of this. As data becomes more and more digitized, it seems reasonable that we must decide how we want to organize this data so that it is easily accessible when we need it. The SQL is currently the ANSI specified way to do that, and while it is not without complications, the basic structure of database and query language remains the same across the board.

Finally, one of the biggest issues in current SQL design is the timing of the SQL servers. Database size has grown significantly since the SQL language was invented, and as a result we are having to deal with time lag as SQL applications search through these seas of information for specific data. ANSI is still updating specifications, with its latest release in 2012, to account for the evolving nature of database organization and navigation.

References:

"Database Management: Big Data will soon be the norm" - Sunday Business Post

SQL For Dummies - 7th Edition