Shelley Doll finishes her coverage of SQL data types with an overview of datetime and interval data types. Learn more about the basic syntax of these standard SQL types.

Every column in a table has a name and a data type. The data type tells DB2 how much physical storage to set aside for the column and the form in which the data are stored. DB2 uses IBM SQL data types ...

Even after 50 years, Structured Query Language, or SQL, remains the native tongue for those who speak data. It's had impressive staying power since it was first coined the Structured Query English ...

For the past fifty years, SQL has helped us understand, manipulate and use our data to our advantage.

We have only discussed a couple of the potential problems caused by bad data types. In general, it is best to assign your columns the data type (and length) that best matches the values in its domain.