IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Vol. 34 Number 4, October-December 2012
This Annals special issue tells the story of how the transformation to RDBMSs began and describes how three companies pioneered the development of relational database management products to meet the relational challenge and build the foundation for the growth of a multibillion dollar industry. It includes six articles by industry pioneers recording this early development of RDBMSs. It also includes two articles by prominent computer historians (David Alan Grier and Martin Campbell-Kelly) which provide historical context and interpretation of the events described by the industry pioneers. Burton Grad was the guest editor.
The articles and the authors of each are listed below. Click on the name of the author(s) to see an abstract of the article on the IEEE website.
Burton Grad, Guest Editors’ Introduction: Relational Database Management Systems: The Formative Years
David Alan Grier, The Relational Database and the Concept of the Information System
Martin Campbell-Kelly, The RDBMS Industry: A Northern California Perspective
Hugh Darwen, The Relational Model: Beginning of an Era
Bradford W. Wade and Donald D. Chamberlin, IBM Relational Database Systems: The Early Years
Bradford W. Wade, Compiling SQL Into System/370 Machiine Language
Robert Preger, The Oracle Story, Part 1: 1977-1986
Lawrence A. Rowe, History of the Ingres Corporation
Donald D. Chamberlin, Early History of SQL