Explain what are the differences between SQL and T-SQL?

Technology CommunityCategory: T-SQLExplain what are the differences between SQL and T-SQL?
VietMX Staff asked 3 years ago
  • SQL is a query language to operate on sets.
  • TSQL is a proprietary procedural language used by Microsoft in SQL Server.

T-SQL adds a number of features that are not available in SQL.

This includes procedural programming elements and a local variable to provide more flexible control of how the application flows. A number of functions were also added to T-SQL to make it more powerful; functions for mathematical operations, string operations, date and time processing, and the like. These additions make T-SQL comply with the Turing completeness test, a test that determines the universality of a computing language. SQL is not Turing complete and is very limited in the scope of what it can do.

Another significant difference between T-SQL and SQL is the changes done to the DELETE and UPDATE commands that are already available in SQL. With T-SQL, the DELETE and UPDATE commands both allow the inclusion of a FROM clause which allows the use of JOINs. This simplifies the filtering of records to easily pick out the entries that match a certain criteria unlike with SQL where it can be a bit more complicated.