Why should you care?

Dashboards, APIs, and reports all start with SELECT. If you cannot read data clearly, you cannot build features.

See it live — copy this example

Run in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or Azure Data Studio.

USE DataVerse;
SELECT CustomerId, FullName, Email
FROM dbo.Customers
WHERE Email LIKE N'%@example.com'
ORDER BY FullName;

What happened?

• The column list avoids SELECT *.
• WHERE keeps only example.com emails.
• ORDER BY sorts names A–Z for a readable result grid.

Practice next

1. Ensure dbo.Customers has at least two rows.
2. Run the SELECT and note the grid output.
3. Remove WHERE and compare row counts.
4. Alias columns: FullName AS CustomerName.
5. Add TOP (5) after SELECT.

Remember

SELECT reads; it does not update. List only columns you need. WHERE and ORDER BY shape the result.

Customer lookup API

GET /customers returns Id, name, email from DataVerse.

Outcome: Support tools show clean lists without internal columns.