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

From: Lauri Pietarinen <lauri.pietarinen_at_atbusiness.com>
Date: 10 Feb 2003 11:14:16 -0800
Message-ID: <e9d83568.0302101114.7fd43f21@posting.google.com>

> 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?

Good question!

It is probably related to many things, among them

the supremity of IBM during 70's and 80's
being afraid of having to remove duplicates, because of (alleged) potential performance implications - hence SQL's pseudu-tuple-bag model (see http://www.dbdebunk.com/cjddtdt.htm)
basically the fact that the relational model as presented by Codd in 1970 was such a radical departure from the traditional way of thinking that a watered down version was (and still is!) the only version that the public can stomach

The product mentioned in another posting in this thread is called Dataphor; more information can be found at www.alphora.com.

There is a web site dedicated to The Third Manifesto (www.thethirdmanifesto.com). It does not have as much information as the book but it is a good start.

I see that Hugh Darwen has made his presentation "The Askew Wall" available on the site.

regards,
Lauri Pietarinen Received on Mon Feb 10 2003 - 13:14:16 CST