DML statements

DML or Data Manipulation Language statements are a set of classic SQL commands used to work on the data (records inside the tables). They are: INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE and SELECT. We can use them directly (ad hoc) or through different sets of applications, as a CRUD layer (CREATE, READ, UPDATE, and DELETE). Here are the explanations of DML commands:

• INSERT: Adding new records in to tables
• UPDATE: Modifying existing rows inside the tables
• DELETE: Removing records from the tables
• SELECT: Read-only access to the records stored inside the tables

We will learn more about SELECT in Chapter 6, A Crash Course in Querying.

Data manipulation

Now, we will start working with concrete data based on the foundation that we've created in the previous steps. So, we will use our University database to enter initial data into tables and test basic manipulation with the data:

1. If you are not already in it, change the focus of the current database to University:

1> USE University
        2> GO
    ...