Editing SQL (section)

==History==
SQL was initially developed at [[IBM]] by [[Donald D. Chamberlin]] and [[Raymond F. Boyce]] after learning about the relational model from [[Edgar F. Codd]]<ref name="Early History"/> in the early 1970s.<ref name="chamberlin-boyce-sequel" /> This version, initially called SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language), was designed to manipulate and retrieve data stored in IBM's original quasirelational database management system, [[IBM System R|System R]], which a group at [[IBM Almaden Research Center|IBM San Jose Research Laboratory]] had developed during the 1970s.<ref name="chamberlin-boyce-sequel" />

Chamberlin and Boyce's first attempt at a relational database language was SQUARE (Specifying Queries in A Relational Environment), but it was difficult to use due to subscript/superscript notation. After moving to the San Jose Research Laboratory in 1973, they began work on a sequel to SQUARE.<ref name="Early History"/> The original name SEQUEL,  which is widely regarded as a pun on [[QUEL query languages|QUEL]], the query language of [[Ingres (database)|Ingres]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Starkey |first=Jim |title=Dynamic SQL, Plumbing, and the Internal API |url=https://www.ibphoenix.com/resources/documents/design/doc_123 |access-date=19 January 2023 |website=www.ibphoenix.com |archive-date=19 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119035452/https://www.ibphoenix.com/resources/documents/design/doc_123 |url-status=live }}</ref> was later changed to SQL (dropping the vowels) because "SEQUEL" was a [[trademark]] of the UK-based [[Hawker Siddeley]] Dynamics Engineering Limited company.<ref name="oppel-databases" />  The label SQL later became the acronym for Structured Query Language.<ref name="TechTarget">{{Cite web |last=Yasar |first=Kinza |last2=Loshin |first2=Peter |last3=Sirkin |first3=Jessica |title=What is Structured Query Language (SQL)? {{!}} Definition from TechTarget |url=https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatamanagement/definition/SQL |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250310030105/https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatamanagement/definition/SQL |archive-date=10 March 2025 |access-date=25 March 2025 |website=Search Data Management |publisher=[[Informa TechTarget]]}}</ref>

After testing SQL at customer test sites to determine the usefulness and practicality of the system, IBM began developing commercial products based on their System R prototype, including [[IBM System/38|System/38]], [[IBM SQL/DS|SQL/DS]], and [[IBM Db2]], which were commercially available in 1979, 1981, and 1983, respectively.<ref name="IBM-history" /> IBM's endorsement caused the industry to move to SQL from alternatives like QUEL.<ref name="morgenthaler20051208">{{Cite interview |last=Morgenthaler |first=Gary |interviewer=Luann Johnson |title=Oral History of Gary Morgenthaler |url=https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Morgenthaler_Gary/Morgenthaler_Gary_1.oral_history.2005.102658005.pdf |access-date=2025-05-30 |format=PDF |publisher=Computer History Museum |date=2005-12-08 |page=18}}</ref>

In the late 1970s, Relational Software, Inc. (now [[Oracle Corporation]]) saw the potential of the concepts described by Codd, Chamberlin, and Boyce, and developed their own SQL-based [[Relational database|RDBMS]] with aspirations of selling it to the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]], [[Central Intelligence Agency]], and other [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government]] agencies. In June 1979, Relational Software introduced one of the first commercially available implementations of SQL, [[Oracle Database|Oracle]] V2 (Version2) for [[VAX]] computers.

By 1986, [[American National Standards Institute|ANSI]] and [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] standard groups officially adopted the standard "Database Language SQL" language definition. New versions of the standard were published in 1989, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2011,<ref name="Early History">{{cite journal|last1=Chamberlin|first1=Donald|title=Early History of SQL|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|date=2012|volume=34|issue=4|pages=78–82|doi=10.1109/MAHC.2012.61|s2cid=1322572}}</ref> 2016 and most recently, 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=ISO - ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 - Data management and interchange |url=https://www.iso.org/committee/45342/x/catalogue/p/1/u/0/w/0/d/0 |website=www.iso.org |access-date=2 January 2021 |archive-date=16 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316024321/https://www.iso.org/committee/45342/x/catalogue/p/1/u/0/w/0/d/0 |url-status=live }}</ref>