Difference between SQL and T-SQL [Explained]

SQL and T-SQL! These two terms and languages had always confused me when I started my career in the data industry, and I never knew the difference even though I had a bachelor’s degree in computer science!
Weird, isn’t it?
Both always looked the same to me, and not knowing the difference was quite embarrassing, especially when your peers or juniors asked you about it. These familiar-sounding terms are a bit different.

In this article, you will discover:

What is SQL?
What is T-SQL?
The Differences Between SQL and T-SQL

What is SQL?

SQL Stands for “Structured Query Language.” First, IBM developed this; later, ANSI made it a standard language in 1986.
It is a standard language to add, retrieve, manipulate and update data in RELATIONAL DATABASES ( Like Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, etc.).

The purpose of a standard language is to keep the terminology consistent irrespective of which vendor’s relational database you use.
Down the line, many different popular database vendors at that time ( like Microsoft, Oracle etc )
developed their versions of the
SQL. Which has some added custom features and functionalities.

What Is T-SQL?

T-SQL Stands For Transact-SQL. T-SQL is a “non-standard extended version” of SQL language used in the popular tool Microsoft SQL Server.
The reason I mentioned it as a “non-standard” is because it doesn’t completely follow the standards of the SQL.
The main idea behind the development of T-SQL was to add the ability to add programming abilities to the existing standard SQL. With these programming features, developers have more control and ability to write procedural codes involving looping, cases, IF ELSE Statements etc.
You can say it’s a better packaged and more powerful version of the SQL language, as it provides many special features that SQL doesn’t have!
If you start learning T-SQL and master it, you don’t have to sit and learn SQL from scratch as T-SQL has almost all the features that Standard SQL offers.
Learning T-SQL is not difficult, in my opinion, if you know the fundamentals of relational databases.
Also, If you start learning the Standard SQL, you will be able to work in almost every other relational database. ( Like SQL Server, Postgre, Oracle etc.). So I would recommend you to start learning Standard SQL first and then decide to go deep with any one RDBMS to learn the added features and functionalities.

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