Editing Pick operating system (section)

==History==
Pick was originally implemented as the '''Generalized Information Retrieval Language System'''<!--boldface per [[WP:R#PLA]]--> (GIRLS) on an [[IBM System/360]] in 1965 by Don Nelson and Dick Pick at [[TRW Inc.|TRW]], whose government contract for the Cheyenne Helicopter project required developing a database.<ref name="CP">{{cite web |url=http://www.jes.com/cdp/cdp_faqx.html |title=General Overview of Classic Pick – a short history |date=1995 |access-date=2017-09-27 |archive-date=2018-08-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180808233754/http://www.jes.com/cdp/cdp_faqx.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It was supposed to be used by the [[U.S. Army]] to control the inventory of [[Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne|Cheyenne helicopter]] parts.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Nelson |first=Donald B. |date=March 19, 1965 |title=Generalized Information Retrieval Language and System (GIRLS) User Requirements Specification |url=http://www.tincat-group.com/mv/Nelson-GIRLS-1965.html |access-date=February 6, 2015 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305003745/http://www.tincat-group.com/mv/Nelson-GIRLS-1965.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Pick was subsequently commercially released in 1973 by [[Microdata Corporation]] (and its British distributor CMC) as the Reality Operating System now supplied by [[Northgate Information Solutions]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Elleray |first=Dick |date=July 16, 1986 |title=Project Management Bulletin 1986/09 – "The Reality Operating System Revealed |version=1986/09 |publisher=Project Management Group, McDonnell Douglas Informations Systems Group}}</ref> [[McDonnell Douglas]] bought Microdata in 1981.<ref name=CP/>

The first Microdata implementation, called the Reality, came only with a procedural language (PROC), and a query language (ENGLISH).  In 1975, Ken Simms of Pick Systems created an implementation of Dartmouth [[BASIC]] for the Reality, with numerous syntax extensions for [[Dumb terminal|smart terminal interface]] and database operations, and it was called Data/BASIC.  At or near the same time, SMI of Chicago, created an extended procedural language and called it RPL.

PROC, the procedure language was provided for executing [[scripting language|scripts]]. A [[SQL]]-style language called ENGLISH allowed database retrieval and reporting, but not updates (although later, the ENGLISH command "REFORMAT" allowed updates on a batch basis). ENGLISH did not fully allow manipulating the 3-dimensional multivalued structure of data records. Nor did it directly provide common [[relational database|relational]] capabilities such as [[join (SQL)|join]]s. This was because powerful [[data dictionary]] redefinitions for a field allowed joins via the execution of a calculated lookup in another file. The system included a [[spooler]]. A simple [[text editor]] for file-system records was provided, but the editor was only suitable<ref name=SiskProGuide>{{Cite web|url=https://jonsisk.com/downloads_1|title=Jonathan E. Sisk's Pick/BASIC: A Programmer's Guide|website=jonsisk.com|access-date=2023-03-04|archive-date=2023-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230304155804/https://jonsisk.com/downloads_1|url-status=live}}</ref> for system maintenance, and could not lock records, so most applications were written with the other tools such as Batch, RPL, or the BASIC language so as to ensure data validation and allow [[record locking]].

By the early 1980s observers saw the Pick Operating System as a strong competitor to [[Unix]].<ref name="fiedler198310">{{cite news |author=Fiedler, Ryan |date=October 1983 |title=The Unix Tutorial / Part 3: Unix in the Microcomputer Marketplace |pages=132 |work=BYTE |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-10/1983_10_BYTE_08-10_UNIX#page/n133/mode/2up |access-date=January 30, 2015}}</ref> ''[[BYTE]]'' in 1984 stated that "Pick is simple and powerful, and it seems to be efficient and reliable, too ... because it works well as a multiuser system, it's probably the most cost-effective way to use an [[IBM Personal Computer XT|XT]]".<ref name="rochkind1985fall">{{cite news |author=Rochkind, Marc J. |date=Fall 1985 |title=Pick, Coherent, and THEOS |pages=231 |work=BYTE |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1985-11/1985_11_BYTE_10-11_Inside_the_IBM_PCs#page/n233/mode/2up |access-date=March 19, 2016}}</ref> Dick Pick founded Pick & Associates, later renamed Pick Systems, then Raining Data, then ({{as of | 2011 | lc = on}}) TigerLogic, and finally Rocket Software. He licensed "Pick" to a large variety of manufacturers and vendors who have produced different "flavors" of Pick. The database flavors sold by TigerLogic were D3, mvBase, and mv Enterprise. Those previously sold by [[IBM]] under the "[[IBM U2|U2]]" umbrella are known as UniData and UniVerse. [[Rocket Software]] purchased IBM's U2 family of products in 2010 and Tiger Logic's D3 and mvBase family of products in 2014. In 2021, Rocket acquired OpenQM and jBASE as well.

Dick Pick died at age 56 due to stroke complications in October 1994.<ref name="LAT.Obit94">{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Will |title=Richard A "Dick" Pick (d. 19 Oct 1994) |url=http://www.countyhistorian.com/knol/4hmquk6fx4gu-596-richard-a-dick-pick-d-19-oct-1994.html |website=www.countyhistorian.com |access-date=27 September 2017 |archive-date=27 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927202550/http://www.countyhistorian.com/knol/4hmquk6fx4gu-596-richard-a-dick-pick-d-19-oct-1994.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Woodyard |first=Chris |date=October 19, 1994 |title=Software Developer Dick Pick Died at 56 |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-19-me-52018-story.html |access-date=November 13, 2022 |archive-date=October 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012065731/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-10-19/local/me-52018_1_database-management-system |url-status=live }}</ref>

Pick Systems often became tangled in licensing litigation, and devoted relatively little effort to marketing<ref name="LAT.85">{{cite news |author=Lazzareschi |first=Carla |date=November 3, 1985 |title=Computer Wiz Tries Harder to Get Users to Pick His System |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-11-03-fi-4222-story.html |access-date=November 13, 2022 |archive-date=September 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928005606/http://articles.latimes.com/1985-11-03/business/fi-4222_1_computer |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>"Pick's lack of marketing"</ref> and improving its software. Subsequent ports of Pick to other platforms generally offered the same tools and capabilities for many years, usually with relatively minor improvements and simply renamed (for example, Data/BASIC became Pick/BASIC and ENGLISH became [[Access query language|ACCESS]]).<ref name="SiskProGuide"/> Licensees often developed proprietary variations and enhancements; for example, Microdata created an input processor called ScreenPro.