Video narration
If you can query customer records with SQL, is SOQL just Salesforce's version of SQL? Think of both as asking for specific records-like finding customers in a spreadsheet. SQL, or Structured Query Language, retrieves and manages data in relational tables. You might write, "SELECT star FROM Customers." SOQL, Salesforce Object Query Language, is built to read Salesforce objects-Accounts, Contacts, and Opportunities. For account names: "SELECT Name FROM Account." Here's the key difference: it isn't the SELECT. SQL combines tables with a JOIN. SOQL follows Salesforce relationships instead. From Contact, "SELECT Name, Account dot Name FROM Contact" gets the contact's name and related account's name. And SOQL is read-focused. Salesforce uses DML operations to handle changes-like inserting, updating, or deleting records. So, is SOQL just renamed SQL? No. SQL is general-purpose; SOQL is Salesforce-specific, relationship-aware, and focused on reading.