HISTORY OF DEV

May 1, 1974

SQL database language invented

In May 1974, Donald Chamberlin and Raymond Boyce published SEQUEL — the query language that became SQLStructured Query Language — the standard language for querying relational databases. for asking questions of relational databaseA database structured as tables with rows and columns, queried with SQL — the dominant model for business data.s.

What it was for

SQLStructured Query Language — the standard language for querying relational databases. (originally spelled SEQUEL) is how apps read and update structured data — `SELECT`, `INSERT`, `JOIN`, and `GROUP BY`. Every web app, bank, and analytics pipeline ultimately talks SQLStructured Query Language — the standard language for querying relational databases. or a close variant (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, SQLStructured Query Language — the standard language for querying relational databases. Server).

Companies

  • IBM

Why it's here

This paper turned the relational databaseA database structured as tables with rows and columns, queried with SQL — the dominant model for business data. idea into a practical language anyone could learn to fetch and combine data.

Why it mattered

SQLStructured Query Language — the standard language for querying relational databases. became the universal way to talk to databases — still the dominant interface to structured data fifty years later.

What it solved

Old database APIs forced programmers to describe step-by-step paths through records; SEQUEL let them simply say what data they wanted.

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