Episode 96 - What Exactly IS A Database? Part I

Advent of Computing

I've fallen into a bit of a data rabbit hole, and you get to join me. In this episode I'm starting my journey to understand where databases came from, and how they started to evolve. This will serve as a foundation for next episode, when we will dive into one of the most popular databases from the 1970s: SQL. Along the way we wrestle with GE, the realities of the Apollo Program, and try to figure out what a database really is.

Selected Sources:

https://sci-hub.se/10.1109/MAHC.2009.110 - A history of IDS

https://archive.org/details/TNM_Integrated_Data_Store_introduction_-_General__20171014_0141 - Learn IDS for yourself!

https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_ibm360imsRGuide1969_8480205/page/n6/mode/2up - Educational guide to IBM's IMS