Re: evolution of relational database

David wrote:

> Hello everyone, I'm new to this group (newsgroups for that
> matter). I've
> found this group out of necessity today. While in class today
> my teacher brought up the point that relational databases got
> their name not because of the relationships between
> attributes, but because of the mathematical set
> theory from which the relational model was derived. So then
> next logical
> question to me seemed to be... "What can you tell us about
> the mathematical
> set theory from which this model came from?" Well, he didn't
> really know the answer so he said, "I don't know but since
> you're interested you can
> find out and give the class a presentation when you do." At
> that point I
> had a sinking feeling in my gut. Now I really want to find
> out about this. So, can anyone help me to understand the set
> theory and how it brought about relational databases?
> I've been reading on www.mathpages.com but I'm not having a
> lot of luck in seeing how the set theory applies to relational
> databases.
>
> I also read
> A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks
> by E. F. Codd which I found at
> http://www.cmpe.boun.edu.tr/~rxk00500/codd/toc.html.
>
> Neither of these really seem to have what I'm looking for.
> The former is probably the most I've found on the set theory
> and the latter seems to give
> a very good explanation of the relational model. Yet I'm
> still trying to connect the two.
>
> Regards,
> David D
> sspunx_at_hotmail.com
>
>

        I understand that the relational algebra concepts Codd based his work on were developed in the 1920s. I have a vague recollection that the concepts were developed by Bertrand Russell (sp?)

        Do a search and see what you come up with.

-- 
Jerry Gitomer
Once I learned how to spell DBA, I became one