DAC SQL101 Workshop 2019

Let’s Play With Database

Date: 3 September 2019

Time: 7PM – 10PM

Venue: SR B.5.09

Facilitators: En Hao & Alan

DAC held a SQL 101 workshop where we covered data extraction and data cleaning. SQL stands for Structured Query Language and it allows us to access and manipulate databases. Two of our EXCOs, En Hao and Alan, presented and explained to the participants the basics of SQL. The content was designed to be beginner friendly which catered to participants who are completely new to SQL or have limited knowledge about it.

We covered how SQL can be used to retrieve data, insert records, create new tables and even sorting selective data. The students were able to follow most parts thanks to the help of the facilitators that were assigned to tables so that if they had trouble understanding, they could get immediate help.

The dataset that was used was about customers renting film and the students were taught how to arrange, find unique characters, delete empty cells and even how to join tables. To further engage the students, we gave them two challenges: ‘Find customers who have rented more than 40 times’ and ‘Find top 3 category films in a descending order’. They were given some time to try out and solve by themselves first and the method to derive the answer was later discussed by the presenters, Alan and En Hao. At the end of the workshop, we shared with the students that they can visit Data.gov.sg to find other datasets and try to impart what they learnt during the workshop.

Overall, it was a very good experience for the students as many gave feedback that the workshop was simple and clear enough for them to follow and they had a good taste of what it is like to analyse data using SQL.