SQL (pronounced “sequel”) is short for “structured query language”. As the name implies, it’s a programming language used to query and manage databases. Basically, it’s how data engineers, analysts and developers “talk” to a database to find out what they want to know, pull data and more. It’s the most basic way database professionals manipulate information, combining elements from different datasets into new tables that are greater than te sum of their parts, in terms of what they are able to show users.