Editing SQL (section)

==Procedural extensions==
SQL is designed for a specific purpose: to query [[data]] contained in a [[relational database]]. SQL is a [[Set (computer science)|set]]-based, [[declarative programming language]], not an [[imperative programming language]] like [[C (programming language)|C]] or [[BASIC]]. However, extensions to Standard SQL add [[procedural programming language]] functionality, such as control-of-flow constructs.

In addition to the standard [[SQL/PSM]] extensions and proprietary SQL extensions, procedural and [[object-oriented programming language|object-oriented]] programmability is available on many SQL platforms via DBMS integration with other languages. The SQL standard defines [[SQL/JRT]] extensions (SQL Routines and Types for the Java Programming Language) to support [[Java (programming language)|Java]] code in SQL databases. [[Microsoft SQL Server 2005]] uses the [[SQLCLR]] (SQL Server Common Language Runtime) to host managed [[Microsoft .NET|.NET]] assemblies in the [[database]], while prior versions of SQL Server were restricted to unmanaged extended stored procedures primarily written in C. [[PostgreSQL]] lets users write functions in a wide variety of languages—including [[Perl]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Tcl]], [[JavaScript]] (PL/V8) and C.<ref name="PostgreSQL server programming" />