IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

E.F. Codd developed his relational database concept within a community that was attempting to create a general-purpose machine for retrieving and reasoning with data. Rather than just making progress toward that goal, this article argues that Codd's accomplishment marked the end of that effort and traces the heritage of the relational database system as it relates to the concept of an information ... View full abstract»

This article describes the origins and development of the relational database management systems (RDBMS) industry, focusing on the firms IBM, Oracle, Ingres, Informix, and Sybase in the 1980s. The author analyzes the industry's evolution in terms of the disruptive technology paradigm and regional economics and then broadly outlines the industry's later development. View full abstract»

Serving as an informal technical introduction to this Annals special issue on relational database management systems, this article gives an introductory overview of the relational model and discusses the value of Edgar F. (Ted) Codd's model. Then, after providing an account of Chris Date's contributions, the author assesses the relational model's effect on the industry and how it might affect futu... View full abstract»

The relational data model, proposed by E.F. Codd in 1970, inspired several research projects at IBM and elsewhere. Among these was System R, which demonstrated the commercial viability of relational database systems. This article describes the research challenges faced by the System R team and how the technology they created has influenced the development of the modern database industry. View full abstract»

To improve performance of repetitive transactions in System R, IBM's Raymond Lorie devised a scheme to create, save, and reuse a generalized access plan that could be instantiated with specific values. The author recounts his role in compiling such generalized access plans into machine code for even better performance. View full abstract»

Starting in 1977, the founders of the Oracle Corporation created a product and a company which in less than 20 years would come to dominate the DBMS marketplace, and become one of the world's largest computer software and services companies. With virtually no outside financial investment, the founders bootstrapped the company by developing project software under contract while working overtime to ... View full abstract»

Developed at the University of California, Berkeley, beginning in 1972, the INGRES relational database management system was originally a research prototype that helped to prove the viability of relational systems. This article describes the subsequent development and commercialization of INGRES and covers the strategic decisions made by the company's founders and the lessons learned from their ex... View full abstract»