SQL
If you need to manipulate large amount of data and query it in sophisticated ways, loading it into a relational data base and construct queries using SQL (the "Standard Query Language") is likely to be far more efficient in the long run than writing a bespoke analysis program (which has to be rewritten for every new query that might occur to you). This is becoming more important for many scientists because more experiments (even in previously computing free zones such as biology) now generate vast amounts of data to be digested and turned into sensible information.
I cannot say that I have come across any creative computing or generative art involving database manipulation, but I have sometimes worked hard to get information into a database so that I could then produce informative graphical illustrations of the information content.