Re: The relational model and relational algebra - why did SQL become the industry standard?

Amund Trovåg wrote:

> Hi all DB-theorists! :)
>
> I am currently trying to work out why SQL and not relational
> algebra became the industry standard in 1986(I think it was). Is
> this because of the more "technical" language of rel. algebra and
> the difficulty in creating universal queries, or is it something
> else?
>
> I am a student at a master's program in information science, and I
> am trying to see if there is a reason for doing my dissertation on
> something that involves making relational algebra more usable, by
> e.g. making new operators. Right now I am trying to figure out why
> relational algebra is a dead language.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help and pointers.
>
> regards,
> Amund Trovåg

Hello:

I think you will find people who claim that relational algebra is NOT dead. See "Foundation for Future Database Systems: The Third Manifesto", By C.J. Date and Hugh Darwen, ISBN 0-201-70928-7, published by Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. Also, there is a company called (some corrections may be forthcoming here) Alaphor with a product called Dataphor that claims to follow the D language described in the book. You will see some posts in this newsgroup related to this book etc. as well. Search for "TTM" or "Tutorial D" and also under the title of the book and the authors. Also of interest could be http://www.dbdebunk.com/.

Hope that helps.

John Eggert Received on Fri Feb 07 2003 - 15:14:03 CET