Introduction to Snowflake

This course will take you from Snowflake's foundational architecture to mastering advanced SnowSQL techniques.

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3 Hours12 Videos43 Exercises

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Course Description

Welcome to this pre-release version of Introduction to Snowflake! This version contains the first chapter of the course, with the second and third chapters due to launch in the coming weeks.
Dive into Snowflake's universe! This course will take you from its foundational architecture to mastering advanced SQL techniques. In our data-driven era, data warehousing is crucial. Snowflake, a cloud-native platform, is redefining scalability and performance. You will dive deep into its significance and learn what differentiates it from competitors like Google BigQuery, Amazon Redshift, Databricks, and Postgres.

Snowflake Basics

You'll start by uncovering Snowflake's distinct architecture. Grasp fundamental database concepts, including DDL (Data Definition Language) and DML (Data Manipulation Language). Dive deeper into the importance of data types, their conversions, and the specifics of Snowflake's functionality.

Advanced Techniques

Once you have the basics, it's time to elevate your skills. You'll delve into joins, subqueries, and query optimization. Play with semi-structured data, focusing on `JSON`.

Seal Your Snowflake Expertise

By the end of this course, you'll have a strong Snowflake understanding, ready to handle data and conduct deep SQL analyses. Whether you're an analyst, data engineer, or a curious tech enthusiast, this course offers a comprehensive view of Snowflake's capabilities, preparing you for the ever-evolving data-driven landscape.

1
Introduction to Snowflake: Architecture, Competitors, and SnowflakeSQL
Free
In this chapter, you will learn about Snowflake, a cloud-based data warehouse that offers a unique architecture. We will discuss its key features, use cases, architecture, and how it compares to its competitors. You will also get started with SnowflakeSQL, exploring its basic syntax and similarities with PostgreSQL.
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What is Snowflake?
50 xp
Traditional vs. cloud data warehouse
100 xp
Row versus column oriented database
100 xp
Snowflake use cases
50 xp
Introduction to SnowflakeSQL
100 xp
Snowflake Architecture
50 xp
Decoupling Compute & Storage
50 xp
Snowflake Architecture Layers
100 xp
Virtual Warehouse
50 xp
Snowflake Competitors and why use Snowflake
50 xp
Data warehousing platforms
50 xp
Features: Snowflake & its competitors
100 xp
Snowflake SQL: Using SELECT and WHERE in Snowflake
100 xp
2
Snowflake SQL and key concepts
In this chapter, you'll embark on a journey through Snowflake SQL. You'll start by discovering various methods to connect and interface with Snowflake. As you delve deeper, you'll grasp the significance of Snowflake Staging. Navigate the vast landscapes of Snowflake's databases using essential commands, and broaden your understanding of its data types, learning to convert them and drawing comparisons with Postgres. Conclude your exploration by mastering Snowflake's functions and honing data sorting and grouping techniques.
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Connecting to Snowflake and DDL commands
50 xp
Snowflake connections and DDL commands
100 xp
Snowflake Staging
50 xp
Snowflake database structures and DML
50 xp
Loading data
50 xp
DESCRIBE & SHOW
100 xp
Snowflake data type and data type conversion
50 xp
Data types
100 xp
Datatype conversion
100 xp
Functions, sorting, and grouping
50 xp
String functions
100 xp
Functions & Grouping
100 xp
DATE & TIME
100 xp
3
Advance Snowflake SQL Concepts
In Chapter 3, you'll advance your skills in Snowflake SQL. You'll begin by exploring diverse join methods and building complex queries with subqueries and CTEs. We'll emphasize query optimization, showing you ways to enhance the speed and efficiency of your SQL tasks. At the end, we'll delve into handling semi-structured data like JSON.
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Joining in Snowflake
50 xp
NATURAL JOIN
100 xp
The world of JOINS
100 xp
LATERAL JOIN
100 xp
Subquerying and Common Table Expressions
50 xp
Subqueries
100 xp
Understanding CTE
100 xp
CTEs
100 xp
Snowflake Query Optimization
50 xp
Essentials of query optimization
100 xp
Early filtering
100 xp
Query history
50 xp
Handling semi-structured data
50 xp
PARSE_JSON & OBJECT_CONSTRUCT
100 xp
Querying JSON data
100 xp
JSONified
100 xp
Wrap-up
50 xp

Collaborators

George Boorman

Arne Warnke

Anastasia Dvoryanchikova

Prerequisites

Joining Data in SQL

Palak Raina

Senior Data Engineer at BUX

Palak is a Senior Data Engineer with a strong background in software engineering. She is skilled in handling data and building pipelines using tools like Snowflake, Python, Airflow, Terraform, dbt, and GCP. Passionate about finding efficient solutions to data-related challenges, Palak is always eager to expand her knowledge and firmly believes in lifelong learning.

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