Data processing requires taking or receiving data from a source and doing something with it. The same can be said of transaction processing. When working with a file, whether it be a fixed length, variable length, XML, or some other format, you have certain steps that must be followed in order to successfully get to the data. Working with a database is in many ways the same. So, the question here is just where does the SELECT statement fall into this process? Just what is this thing called a SELECT statement?