Classic Papers

M. M. Astrahan, M. W. Blasgen et al., 1976 · ACM Transactions on Database Systems, Vol. 1, No. 2

System R: A Milestone in Relational Database Management

The System R team at IBM San Jose Research Lab presented the first complete architecture of a relational DBMS, covering query optimizer, views, authorization, concurrency control, and crash recovery

Donald D. Chamberlin, Raymond F. Boyce, 1974 · Proceedings of the 1974 ACM SIGFIDET Workshop

The Precursor to SQL: The Birth of SEQUEL

Chamberlin and Boyce proposed the Structured English Query Language SEQUEL, replacing predicate calculus with SELECT-FROM-WHERE blocks — the direct ancestor of SQL

E. F. Codd, 1970 · Communications of the ACM

The Birth of the Relational Model

Codd's relational model transformed the paradigm of data management — from navigational access to declarative queries