3. A Concise History of SQL

“There is only one religion, though there are many versions of it.”

—George Bernard Shaw

Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant

Topics Covered in This Chapter

The Origins of SQL

Early Vendor Implementations

“... And Then There Was a Standard”

Evolution of the ANSI/ISO Standard

Commercial Implementations

What the Future Holds

Why Should You Learn SQL?

Summary

The telling of history always involves vague and ambiguous accounts of various incidents, political intrigue, and human foibles. The history of SQL is no different than that of any other subject in this sense. SQL has been around in one form or another since just after the dawn of the relational model, and there are several detailed accounts of its long and spotty existence. ...

Get SQL Queries for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Data Manipulation in SQL, Second Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial