Your first SELECT

SELECT is the beating heart of SQL — by some estimates over 90% of all queries ever run. Time to write yours.

Choosing columns

The shape: SELECT which columns, FROM which table. Order the columns however you like — try lessons, name.

The * you met last lesson means "all columns":

Computing as you select

The SELECT list can contain expressions, not just column names:

AS minutes names the computed column — an alias. The database did math on every row in one line. (This is that declarative magic: no loop in sight.)

Case and formatting

SQL keywords are case-insensitive — select, SELECT, SeLeCt all work. Convention: KEYWORDS IN CAPS, table and column names in lowercase. It makes the query's skeleton visible at a glance.