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Which dialects of SQL should Wise Owl teach next?
Although we currently just train in T-SQL for SQL Server, there are many other dialects of this database language: such as MySql and PL/SQL, for example. Which ones would you like Wise Owl to run courses in?

Posted by Andy Brown on 01 February 2023

In this blog

Does dialect matter?
The main SQL dialects - which should we teach?

Which dialects of SQL should Wise Owl teach next?

At Wise Owl we've been running SQL courses for at least 15 years, but they've all had one limitation: they are tailored towards one specific dialect of SQL, called Transact-SQL or T-SQL.

T-SQL is the version of SQL used in SQL Server, Microsoft's corporate database software (but curiously not the version used in Microsoft Access, SQL Server's baby sister, which uses something called JetSQL).

Does dialect matter?

Does it matter what dialect of SQL you learn? We've always taken the view that it does, and advised (for example) Oracle developers not to attend our SQL courses for SQL Server. Here are two reasons why:

Reason	Notes
Language has to be precise	In the real world, dialect is less important. If you're planning on travelling to Latin America and only speak European Spanish it probably won't matter that much, as everyone will still understand you and you'll soon adjust. Computers are much fussier about what they'll accept, and you really don't want to find that the syntax that you've learnt on a course needs tweaking before it'll work back in the office.
Environment matters	We teach people how to code in T-SQL in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), since that's by far the most common editing environment used for this dialect. However, if you're learning PL/SQL, for example (see below for more on this) you're far more likely to be using a different SQL editing tool (such as SQL*Plus, say).

Reason

Notes

Language has to be precise

In the real world, dialect is less important. If you're planning on travelling to Latin America and only speak European Spanish it probably won't matter that much, as everyone will still understand you and you'll soon adjust. Computers are much fussier about what they'll accept, and you really don't want to find that the syntax that you've learnt on a course needs tweaking before it'll work back in the office.

Environment matters

We teach people how to code in T-SQL in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), since that's by far the most common editing environment used for this dialect. However, if you're learning PL/SQL, for example (see below for more on this) you're far more likely to be using a different SQL editing tool (such as SQL*Plus, say).

The main SQL dialects - which should we teach?

Here are the main SQL dialects in which we are considering running training courses:

Dialect	Use with	Notes
T-SQL	SQL Server	This MIcrosoft variant on standard SQL lets you create variables and run WHILE loops.
PL/SQL	Oracle	Another variant on SQL, which allows you to create variables and define objects working with Oracle databases.
PL/pgSQL	Postgres	Considered the dialect to be the closest to pure SQL, this allows you to work with the open-source Postgres database (so named because it was a sequel to the original Ingres database). PL/pgSQL and PL/SQL are very similar.
MySQL	MySQL	This dialect allows you to work with the free and open-source MySql (although it's actually owned by Oracle!).
SQLite	SQLite	A dialect allowing you to work with (as the name suggests) a light version of SQL Server, which doesn't support proper database features (such as true concurrency, for example).