Oracle SQL: the Essential Reference

Preface

The roots of relational database systems extend back to 1970, when Dr. E. F. Codd published a paper entitled "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks."^[1] The paper appeared in the June 1970 issue of Communications of the ACM, the journal of the Association of Computer Machinery (ACM). That paper changed the world of computing forever; the model for a relational database management system (RDBMS) that Codd proposed ultimately became the definitive standard for relational databases, and relational databases are the predominant database type in use today.

^[1] E.F. Codd, "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks," Communications of the ACM 13, 6 (June 1970) 377-387.

Codd's model required a new language to access the database, so IBM developed Structured English Query Language and first gave it the name SEQUEL in 1974. Unfortunately, a trademark already existed for SEQUEL, so "English" was dropped from the name and the new language was renamed SQL, or Structured Query Language. (However, it is still pronounced "sequel.")

In 1979 Larry Ellison and Bob Miner founded Relational Software, Inc. (RSI) and began developing the first commercially viable implementation of Codd's model, along with the SQL language, and the company released Oracle V.2 as the world's first relational database. Relational Software soon changed its name to Oracle Systems, and subsequently to Oracle Corporation. The rest is history.

SQL soon grew in popularity, but each vendor ...