Oracle vs SQL

[WhiteBears]

can someone explain the difference between the two? tia

[David Black]

Both databes with Oracle very high end and expensive. The system costs a fortune but is apparently fabulous.

SQL is the bottom end of the market, cheap and cheerful but used by all and is free in the mysql version.

SQL great for running nice simple websites.
Oracle great for banks or missile defence systems!

PS I am not a techie but that is about it.

[WhiteBears]

Thanks David,
the place i used to work is a bank and they use SQL server.

another large organisation where i have a job interview im going for is investing money to implementing Oracle. i just wanted to know more about Oracle and why its better than sql.

[VHG]

You need to understand the difference between "SQL" and "SQL Server".

SQL on its own is a LANGUAGE used to "talk" to databases. You use the SQL language to put data in, update data, and query data. All relational databases use SQL to create, update and query the database.

"SQL Server" is a product from Microsoft, a relational database.

Oracle also sell a relational database, but also sell lots of products that work WITH a relational database, like CRM (Customer Relationship Management) etc.

A relational database on it own is not much good if you dont have programs that sit in front of it and use it.

Most web sites, like say Amazon, use a relational database as the back end to hold all the data about their products.

[fo3nix]

As above, Oracle is a large company that specialises in database design.

SQL is a language used in databases, and features in the names of several database systems, such as Microsoft's SQL Server. MySQL is good and free, as is postgresql.

For most jobs, MySQL and the like do their job brilliantly. Most bottlenecks are somewhere else in the system, so MySQL is chosen by many top websites, for example.

Oracle is very expensive, and is a good way to use your budget quickly. However, if your needs involve very fast database functions, then Oracle is sometimes the only place to go.

If this place you're planning on being employed by knows what they're doing, then presumably they need technology like Oracle's database stuff that is beyond MySQL. Or, perhaps they have an IT dept. that don't really know what they're doing, and think that going to Oracle will help.

A great place to ask questions like this might be stackoverflow.