SQL is a programming language used to manage data in relational database management systems (RDBMS). It includes commands to define schemas, insert, query, update, and delete data. Some key SQL commands are CREATE to define objects like tables; SELECT to query data; UPDATE and DELETE to modify data; and ALTER to modify table schemas. SQL also includes functions like COUNT, SUM, AVG to aggregate data and GROUP BY to group query results. JOINs combine data from multiple tables and SET operations like UNION combine result sets.