[dba-Tech] Dearly Departed Databases (R.I.P.)

MartyConnelly martyconnelly at shaw.ca
Mon Jul 18 14:24:30 CDT 2005


A couple of old mainframe database ported to the PC.
Well Sybase was ported to the PC and became MS SQL Server. The SAP DB 
that is now MaxSQL from MySQL
was a 1990 code fork from ADABAS-D
I go back to the Network ISAM DB called GIS (General Information 
Services) for IBM 360's or IBM IMS.
or Honeywell's IDS 2 (This was Codysl based) for GCOS or Multics around 
1978..
I wrote a lot of Cobol for VSAM files which were single ISAM indexed tables.

Then I have written simple quadtree octtree and B* Tree databases in C 
for simple Geographic Information Systems
and grad database courses. PS these courses are very easy if you have 
written a couple of commercial versions previously.
Hey I was top of my class in one, of course it helps if nearly everyone 
else dropped out. Went from 30 to 3 students at the end.
Oddly enough 90 % of the class were Canadian IT based civil servants. 
Most dropped out because the math was over their head.

There is still a long lasting commercial C code,  B tree database that 
uses these methods which has very fast and small footprint,
CodeBase is from Sequitur Software in Edmonton.

And who can forget Btrieve which formed a lot of DB products in the 80's 
for 8086 PC's.
Novell bought it then it slowly disappeared.
Or ZIM an entity relational database written in Mid 80's by Mike Chin a 
student of Codd.
I think ZIM is still sold by Sterling or Stirling Software.



Shamil Salakhetdinov wrote:

><<<
>in particular with reference to Codysyl,
>  
>
>The main CODASYL proposals based system for mainframes was IDMS (on the
>West).
>Was it ported to PC?
>dbVista (Raima Data Manager) is also known as based on CODASYL proposals..
>
>Here in Russia (Soviet Union) in ancient now times of 80ies I worked in a
>team,
>which developed CODASYL proposals based DBMSs:
>first for IBM 360/370, then for PDP11 and then for IBM PC.
>The version for IBM370 was tested against IDMS and it was better/comparable
>in the speed etc.
>These all were success story projects, the application systems using these
>DBMSe were developed and used in exUSSR but then Perestroyka-Glasnost came
>and all that went nowhere because of economical chaos and uncertainty about
>the future...
>
>Shamil
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Arthur Fuller" <artful at rogers.com>
>To: "'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'"
><dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
>Sent: Sunday, July 17, 2005 3:33 AM
>Subject: RE: [dba-Tech] Dearly Departed Databases (R.I.P.)
>
>
>  
>
>>I forgot to mention that I did find these links:
>>
>>http://wwwdb.web.cern.ch/wwwdb/aboutdbs/history/cern.html
>>
>>and
>>
>>http://wwwdb.web.cern.ch/wwwdb/aboutdbs/history/industry.html
>>
>>but found them lacking, in particular with reference to Codysyl,
>>hierarchical and network database history. Most of the PC history is
>>    
>>
>readily
>  
>
>>available, at least in terms of birthdate (deathdate is another issue),
>>    
>>
>but
>  
>
>>I am particularly interested in the chronology of the designs named above,
>>their progenitors, their lifespans, their utility, and their demises. In
>>addition to the same for the PC products I named as well as any others
>>    
>>
>that
>  
>
>>achieved some popularity or at least reputations for excellence.
>>
>>Arthur
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
>>[mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Arthur Fuller
>>Sent: July 16, 2005 7:28 PM
>>To: 'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'
>>Subject: [dba-Tech] Dearly Departed Databases (R.I.P.)
>>
>>For some reason it occurred to me today to compile a list of databases I
>>once used (and perhaps more than once), once loved, and once even deployed
>>an app against. I tried a few googles on subjects approximating the
>>    
>>
>subject
>  
>
>>but came up with nothing relevant.
>>
>>So I am proposing this tentative list -- not meant to be exhaustive, but
>>rather just OTTOMH... the ultimate goal being to compile a list of when
>>    
>>
>the
>  
>
>>products went off the market, when the companies folded or were sold, and
>>    
>>
>so
>  
>
>>on. For the Brits on the list, let`s call it Desert Island Databases. LOL.
>>
>>dBASE II... became dBASE III, begat dBASE IV (still Ashton-Tate, but then
>>Borland bought the latter and tried dBASE V and it went nowhere, IIRC).
>>
>>FoxBase begat FoxPro... was bought by MS and still exists, in radically
>>different cloth.
>>
>>Revelation... lost track long ago... no idea what happened on this score.
>>
>>Clarion... fabulous executables, dumb-ass language... no idea what
>>    
>>
>happened
>  
>
>>to them.
>>
>>Paradox... is it still for sale... no idea.
>>
>>Btrieve... the history of this baby eludes me... seems to have undergone a
>>number of evolutions and buyouts but I have no detail.
>>
>>Knowledgeman... lost track more than a decade ago.
>>
>>InfoStar (this is really for the geriatrics in this list!). No idea what
>>happened here.
>>
>>(This list is obviously PC-centric, but I would love some contributions
>>    
>>
>from
>  
>
>>those aware of the histories of various mini, midi and mainframe
>>    
>>
>databases.)
>  
>
>>TIA to any and all who can contribute obituaries or documentation of
>>reincarnations.
>>
>>Arthur
>>
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>dba-Tech mailing list
>>dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com
>>http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech
>>Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>dba-Tech mailing list
>>dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com
>>http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech
>>Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
>>    
>>
>
>_______________________________________________
>dba-Tech mailing list
>dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com
>http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech
>Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
>
>
>  
>

-- 
Marty Connelly
Victoria, B.C.
Canada






More information about the dba-Tech mailing list