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Category
Relational databases
Summary
A relational database is a (most commonly digital) database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many relational database systems are equipped with the option of using SQL (Structured Query Language) for querying and updating the database.
The term "relational database" was first defined by E. F. Codd at IBM in 1970. Codd introduced the term in his research paper "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks".
In this paper and later papers, he defined what he meant by "relational". One well-known definition of what constitutes a relational database system is composed of Codd's 12 rules. However, no commercial implementations of the relational model conform to all of Codd's rules, so the term has gradually come to describe a broader class of database systems, which at a minimum:
Present the data to the user as relations (a presentation in tabular form, i.e. as a collection of tables with each table consisting of a set of rows and columns);
Provide relational operators to manipulate the data in tabular form.
In 1974, IBM began developing System R, a research project to develop a prototype RDBMS.
The first system sold as an RDBMS was Multics Relational Data Store (June 1976). Oracle was released in 1979 by Relational Software, now Oracle Corporation. Ingres and IBM BS12 followed. Other examples of an RDBMS include IBM Db2, SAP Sybase ASE, and Informix. In 1984, the first RDBMS for Macintosh began being developed, code-named Silver Surfer, and was released in 1987 as 4th Dimension and known today as 4D.
The first systems that were relatively faithful implementations of the relational model were from:
University of Michigan – Micro DBMS (1969)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1971)
IBM UK Scientific Centre at Peterlee – IS1 (1970–72) and its successor, PRTV (1973–79)
The most common definition of an RDBMS is a product that presents a view of data as a collection of rows and columns, even if it is not based strictly upon relational theory.
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