Course 8 · Reference

Glossary & Cheat Sheets

The reference to keep open the whole way through. A plain-language glossary of every term the curriculum uses — each cross-linked to the course that teaches it — plus quick cheat sheets for SQL, the command line, the data stack, and the decisions you'll make most often. When a word is fuzzy, this is where you look.

Bookmark this

This isn't a course to "complete" — it's a companion. From your very first chapter, when you hit an unfamiliar term (CDC? idempotent? lakehouse?), come here, get the one-line definition, and follow the pointer to where it's taught in depth. Use your browser's find (Ctrl/⌘-F) on the glossary page to jump straight to a term.

Pages

00 Start Here How to use this reference, and how the glossary's cross-links connect back to the courses. 01 The Glossary Every term in the curriculum, defined in plain language and grouped by theme — foundations, storage, modeling, pipelines, streaming, serving, quality, tooling, AI/ML, and career — each with a pointer to where it's taught. A–Z reference 02 Cheat Sheets Quick-reference cards — SQL patterns, shell/git/Docker commands, dbt & Dagster, the data-stack map, and the decision heuristics you'll reach for most (batch vs stream, normalize vs dimensional, ETL vs ELT, and more).

How to use it

Two complementary references:

The Glossary answers "what does this word mean?" — reach for it any time a term trips you up, in any course.
The Cheat Sheets answer "what's the syntax / which option do I pick?" — reach for them while you're building, in the craft, tooling, and capstone courses.

Both link back into the courses, so the reference and the teaching stay connected.