Category Software Related Stories Handling Data with SQL -- 11/17/98

Continued from FIGURE 1: CREATE TABLE Syntax

When IBM began implementing Dr. E. F. Codd's relational database model in the early 1970's, Donald Chamberlin and others at IBM's research division developed a prototype language called Structured English Query Language, or SEQUEL for short. Later, IBM expanded and revised the language, dubbing it SEQUEL/2. SEQUEL/2 became the application programming interface (API) for IBM's first relational database system prototype, System/R. For legal reasons, IBM eventually changed the name SEQUEL/2 to SQL. That's why many people and reference books today, like this magazine, use the pronunciation "sequel" and spell it out as Structured Query Language.

But as the standards people like to emphasize, the early SEQUEL prototypes were not the same as the SQL language that was adopted by various standards organizations. Jim Melton, an editor of the SQL-92 standard, even went so far as to say that the public was "ill-served by persuasions that the word 'structured' accurately describes the language" (Understanding the New SQL: A Complete Guide, by Melton and Alan R. Simon. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann, 1993. ISBN: 1-55860-245-3). So officially at least, SQL stands for S-Q-L and nothing else.

Published as PC Tech Feature in the 11/3/98 issue of PC Magazine.

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