A relational database ( RDB ) is a database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A database management system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system ( RDBMS ). Many relational database systems are equipped with the option of using SQL (Structured Query Language) for querying and updating the database.
59-493: RDMS may refer to: Relational database management system (RDMS or RDBMS) Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer , a credential imparted by the American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography See also [ edit ] RDM (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
118-657: A standard of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1986 and of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1987. Since then, the standard has been revised multiple times to include a larger set of features and incorporate common extensions. Despite the existence of standards, virtually no implementations in existence adhere to it fully, and most SQL code requires at least some changes before being ported to different database systems. SQL
177-671: A database does not implement all of Codd's rules (or the current understanding on the relational model, as expressed by Christopher J. Date , Hugh Darwen and others), it is not relational. This view, shared by many theorists and other strict adherents to Codd's principles, would disqualify most DBMSs as not relational. For clarification, they often refer to some RDBMSs as truly-relational database management systems (TRDBMS), naming others pseudo-relational database management systems (PRDBMS). As of 2009, most commercial relational DBMSs employ SQL as their query language . Alternative query languages have been proposed and implemented, notably
236-474: A local RDB and receive tables of data and status indicators in reply from remote RDBs. SQL statements can also be compiled and stored in remote RDBs as packages and then invoked by package name. This is important for the efficient operation of application programs that issue complex, high-frequency queries. It is especially important when the tables to be accessed are located in remote systems. The messages, protocols, and structural components of DRDA are defined by
295-399: A new row is written to the table, a new unique value for the primary key is generated; this is the key that the system uses primarily for accessing the table. System performance is optimized for PKs. Other, more natural keys may also be identified and defined as alternate keys (AK). Often several columns are needed to form an AK (this is one reason why a single integer column is usually made
354-473: A roadblock to full use of SQL's user-defined types. JSON support, for example, needed to be added by a new standard in 2016. The concept of Null is the subject of some debate . The Null marker indicates the absence of a value, and is distinct from a value of 0 for an integer column or an empty string for a text column. The concept of Nulls enforces the 3-valued-logic in SQL , which is a concrete implementation of
413-455: A single relation, even though they may grab information from several relations. Also, derived relations can be used as an abstraction layer . A domain describes the set of possible values for a given attribute, and can be considered a constraint on the value of the attribute. Mathematically, attaching a domain to an attribute means that any value for the attribute must be an element of the specified set. The character string "ABC" , for instance,
472-558: A system. For increased security, the system design may grant access to only the stored procedures and not directly to the tables. Fundamental stored procedures contain the logic needed to insert new and update existing data. More complex procedures may be written to implement additional rules and logic related to processing or selecting the data. The relational database was first defined in June 1970 by Edgar Codd , of IBM's San Jose Research Laboratory . Codd's view of what qualifies as an RDBMS
531-414: A tuple (restricting combinations of attributes) or to an entire relation. Since every attribute has an associated domain, there are constraints ( domain constraints ). The two principal rules for the relational model are known as entity integrity and referential integrity . Every relation /table has a primary key, this being a consequence of a relation being a set . A primary key uniquely specifies
590-476: A tuple within a table. While natural attributes (attributes used to describe the data being entered) are sometimes good primary keys, surrogate keys are often used instead. A surrogate key is an artificial attribute assigned to an object which uniquely identifies it (for instance, in a table of information about students at a school they might all be assigned a student ID in order to differentiate them). The surrogate key has no intrinsic (inherent) meaning, but rather
649-503: Is analogous to using the index of a book to go directly to the page on which the information you are looking for is found, so that you do not have to read the entire book to find what you are looking for. Relational databases typically supply multiple indexing techniques, each of which is optimal for some combination of data distribution, relation size, and typical access pattern. Indices are usually implemented via B+ trees , R-trees , and bitmaps . Indices are usually not considered part of
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#1732788103010708-440: Is essentially a declarative language ( 4GL ), it also includes procedural elements. SQL was one of the first commercial languages to use Edgar F. Codd 's relational model . The model was described in his influential 1970 paper, "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks". Despite not entirely adhering to the relational model as described by Codd , SQL became the most widely used database language. SQL became
767-497: Is not in the integer domain, but the integer value 123 is. Another example of domain describes the possible values for the field "CoinFace" as ("Heads","Tails"). So, the field "CoinFace" will not accept input values like (0,1) or (H,T). Constraints are often used to make it possible to further restrict the domain of an attribute. For instance, a constraint can restrict a given integer attribute to values between 1 and 10. Constraints provide one method of implementing business rules in
826-928: Is particularly useful in handling structured data , i.e., data incorporating relations among entities and variables. Introduced in the 1970s, SQL offered two main advantages over older read–write APIs such as ISAM or VSAM . Firstly, it introduced the concept of accessing many records with one single command . Secondly, it eliminates the need to specify how to reach a record, i.e., with or without an index . Originally based upon relational algebra and tuple relational calculus , SQL consists of many types of statements, which may be informally classed as sublanguages , commonly: Data query Language (DQL), Data Definition Language (DDL), Data Control Language (DCL), and Data Manipulation Language (DML). The scope of SQL includes data query, data manipulation (insert, update, and delete), data definition ( schema creation and modification), and data access control. Although SQL
885-453: Is summarized in Codd's 12 rules . A relational database has become the predominant type of database. Other models besides the relational model include the hierarchical database model and the network model . The table below summarizes some of the most important relational database terms and the corresponding SQL term: In a relational database, a relation is a set of tuples that have
944-446: Is useful through its ability to uniquely identify a tuple. Another common occurrence, especially in regard to N:M cardinality is the composite key . A composite key is a key made up of two or more attributes within a table that (together) uniquely identify a record. Foreign key refers to a field in a relational table that matches the primary key column of another table. It relates the two keys. Foreign keys need not have unique values in
1003-501: The Distributed Data Management Architecture . Distributed SQL processing ala DRDA is distinctive from contemporary distributed SQL databases. SQL deviates in several ways from its theoretical foundation, the relational model and its tuple calculus. In that model, a table is a set of tuples, while in SQL, tables and query results are lists of rows; the same row may occur multiple times, and
1062-605: The database , while prior versions of SQL Server were restricted to unmanaged extended stored procedures primarily written in C. PostgreSQL lets users write functions in a wide variety of languages—including Perl , Python , Tcl , JavaScript (PL/V8) and C. SQL implementations are incompatible between vendors and do not necessarily completely follow standards. In particular, date and time syntax, string concatenation, NULL s, and comparison case sensitivity vary from vendor to vendor. PostgreSQL and Mimer SQL strive for standards compliance, though PostgreSQL does not adhere to
1121-417: The normal forms . Connolly and Begg define database management system (DBMS) as a "software system that enables users to define, create, maintain and control access to the database". RDBMS is an extension of that initialism that is sometimes used when the underlying database is relational. An alternative definition for a relational database management system is a database management system (DBMS) based on
1180-569: The relational model . Most databases in widespread use today are based on this model. RDBMSs have been a common option for the storage of information in databases used for financial records, manufacturing and logistical information, personnel data, and other applications since the 1980s. Relational databases have often replaced legacy hierarchical databases and network databases , because RDBMS were easier to implement and administer. Nonetheless, relational stored data received continued, unsuccessful challenges by object database management systems in
1239-497: The 1970s. 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. The original name SEQUEL, which is widely regarded as a pun on QUEL , the query language of Ingres ,
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#17327881030101298-496: The 1980s and 1990s, (which were introduced in an attempt to address the so-called object–relational impedance mismatch between relational databases and object-oriented application programs), as well as by XML database management systems in the 1990s. However, due to the expanse of technologies, such as horizontal scaling of computer clusters , NoSQL databases have recently become popular as an alternative to RDBMS databases. Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA)
1357-546: The ISO in 1987. It is maintained by ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, Subcommittee SC 32, Data management and interchange . Until 1996, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) data-management standards program certified SQL DBMS compliance with the SQL standard. Vendors now self-certify the compliance of their products. The original standard declared that the official pronunciation for "SQL"
1416-448: The PK). Both PKs and AKs have the ability to uniquely identify a row within a table. Additional technology may be applied to ensure a unique ID across the world, a globally unique identifier , when there are broader system requirements. The primary keys within a database are used to define the relationships among the tables. When a PK migrates to another table, it becomes a foreign key (FK) in
1475-438: The basis of interaction among these tables. These relationships can be modelled as an entity-relationship model . In order for a database management system (DBMS) to operate efficiently and accurately, it must use ACID transactions . Part of the programming within a RDBMS is accomplished using stored procedures (SPs). Often procedures can be used to greatly reduce the amount of information transferred within and outside of
1534-402: The columns represent values attributed to that instance (such as address or price). For example, each row of a class table corresponds to a class, and a class corresponds to multiple students, so the relationship between the class table and the student table is "one to many" Each row in a table has its own unique key. Rows in a table can be linked to rows in other tables by adding a column for
1593-401: The database and support subsequent data use within the application layer. SQL implements constraint functionality in the form of check constraints . Constraints restrict the data that can be stored in relations . These are usually defined using expressions that result in a Boolean value, indicating whether or not the data satisfies the constraint. Constraints can apply to single attributes, to
1652-469: The database, as they are considered an implementation detail, though indices are usually maintained by the same group that maintains the other parts of the database. The use of efficient indexes on both primary and foreign keys can dramatically improve query performance. This is because B-tree indexes result in query times proportional to log(n) where n is the number of rows in a table and hash indexes result in constant time queries (no size dependency as long as
1711-564: The first RDBMS for Macintosh began being developed, code-named Silver Surfer, and was released in 1987 as 4th Dimension and known today as 4D. The first systems that were relatively faithful implementations of the relational model were from: The most common definition of an RDBMS is a product that presents a view of data as a collection of rows and columns, even if it is not based strictly upon relational theory . By this definition, RDBMS products typically implement some but not all of Codd's 12 rules. A second school of thought argues that if
1770-427: The five leading proprietary software relational database vendors by revenue were Oracle (48.8%), IBM (20.2%), Microsoft (17.0%), SAP including Sybase (4.6%), and Teradata (3.7%). SQL Structured Query Language ( SQL ) ( pronounced S-Q-L ; or alternatively as "sequel") is a domain-specific language used to manage data, especially in a relational database management system (RDBMS). It
1829-404: The general 3-valued logic . Another popular criticism is that it allows duplicate rows, making integration with languages such as Python , whose data types might make accurately representing the data difficult, in terms of parsing and by the absence of modularity. This is usually avoided by declaring a primary key, or a unique constraint, with one or more columns that uniquely identify a row in
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1888-522: 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 RDBMS with aspirations of selling it to the U.S. Navy , Central Intelligence Agency , and other U.S. government agencies. In June 1979, Relational Software introduced one of the first commercially available implementations of SQL, Oracle V2 (Version2) for VAX computers. By 1986, ANSI and ISO standard groups officially adopted
1947-470: The most popular commercial and proprietary SQL DBMSs, are Oracle (whose DATE behaves as DATETIME , and lacks a TIME type) and MS SQL Server (before the 2008 version). As a result, SQL code can rarely be ported between database systems without modifications. Several reasons for the lack of portability between database systems include: SQL was adopted as a standard by the ANSI in 1986 as SQL-86 and
2006-560: The order of rows can be employed in queries (e.g., in the LIMIT clause). Critics argue that SQL should be replaced with a language that returns strictly to the original foundation: for example, see The Third Manifesto by Hugh Darwen and C.J. Date (2006, ISBN 0-321-39942-0 ). Early specifications did not support major features, such as primary keys. Result sets could not be named, and subqueries had not been defined. These were added in 1992. The lack of sum types has been described as
2065-519: The original eight including relational comparison operators and extensions that offer support for nesting and hierarchical data, among others. Normalization was first proposed by Codd as an integral part of the relational model. It encompasses a set of procedures designed to eliminate non-simple domains (non-atomic values) and the redundancy (duplication) of data, which in turn prevents data manipulation anomalies and loss of data integrity. The most common forms of normalization applied to databases are called
2124-506: The other table. When each cell can contain only one value and the PK migrates into a regular entity table, this design pattern can represent either a one-to-one or one-to-many relationship. Most relational database designs resolve many-to-many relationships by creating an additional table that contains the PKs from both of the other entity tables – the relationship becomes an entity;
2183-427: The pattern: ISO/IEC 9075-n:yyyy Part n: title , or, as a shortcut, ISO/IEC 9075 . Interested parties may purchase the standards documents from ISO, IEC, or ANSI. Some old drafts are freely available. ISO/IEC 9075 is complemented by ISO/IEC 13249: SQL Multimedia and Application Packages and some Technical reports . A distinction should be made between alternatives to SQL as a language, and alternatives to
2242-446: The pre-1996 implementation of Ingres QUEL . A relational model organizes data into one or more tables (or "relations") of columns and rows , with a unique key identifying each row. Rows are also called records or tuples . Columns are also called attributes. Generally, each table/relation represents one "entity type" (such as customer or product). The rows represent instances of that type of entity (such as "Lee" or "chair") and
2301-458: The referencing relation. A foreign key can be used to cross-reference tables, and it effectively uses the values of attributes in the referenced relation to restrict the domain of one or more attributes in the referencing relation. The concept is described formally as: "For all tuples in the referencing relation projected over the referencing attributes, there must exist a tuple in the referenced relation projected over those same attributes such that
2360-492: The relational model itself. Below are proposed relational alternatives to the SQL language. See navigational database and NoSQL for alternatives to the relational model. Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) was designed by a workgroup within IBM from 1988 to 1994. DRDA enables network-connected relational databases to cooperate to fulfill SQL requests. An interactive user or program can issue SQL statements to
2419-594: The relevant part of the index fits into memory). Queries made against the relational database, and the derived relvars in the database are expressed in a relational calculus or a relational algebra . In his original relational algebra, Codd introduced eight relational operators in two groups of four operators each. The first four operators were based on the traditional mathematical set operations : The remaining operators proposed by Codd involve special operations specific to relational databases: Other operators have been introduced or proposed since Codd's introduction of
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2478-399: The resolution table is then named appropriately and the two FKs are combined to form a PK. The migration of PKs to other tables is the second major reason why system-assigned integers are used normally as PKs; there is usually neither efficiency nor clarity in migrating a bunch of other types of columns. Relationships are a logical connection between different tables (entities), established on
2537-435: The same attributes . A tuple usually represents an object and information about that object. Objects are typically physical objects or concepts. A relation is usually described as a table , which is organized into rows and columns . All the data referenced by an attribute are in the same domain and conform to the same constraints. The relational model specifies that the tuples of a relation have no specific order and that
2596-460: The standard declarative SQL syntax. Stored procedures are not part of the relational database model, but all commercial implementations include them. An index is one way of providing quicker access to data. Indices can be created on any combination of attributes on a relation . Queries that filter using those attributes can find matching tuples directly using the index (similar to Hash table lookup), without having to check each tuple in turn. This
2655-618: The standard "Database Language SQL" language definition. New versions of the standard were published in 1989, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2016 and most recently, 2023. The SQL language is subdivided into several language elements, including: SQL is designed for a specific purpose: to query data contained in a relational database . SQL is a set -based, declarative programming language , not an imperative programming language like C or BASIC . However, extensions to Standard SQL add procedural programming language functionality, such as control-of-flow constructs. In addition to
2714-587: The standard SQL/PSM extensions and proprietary SQL extensions, procedural and object-oriented programmability is available on many SQL platforms via DBMS integration with other languages. The SQL standard defines SQL/JRT extensions (SQL Routines and Types for the Java Programming Language) to support Java code in SQL databases. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 uses the SQLCLR (SQL Server Common Language Runtime) to host managed .NET assemblies in
2773-581: The standard in all cases. For example, the folding of unquoted names to lower case in PostgreSQL is incompatible with the SQL standard, which says that unquoted names should be folded to upper case. Thus, according to the standard, Foo should be equivalent to FOO , not foo . Popular implementations of SQL commonly omit support for basic features of Standard SQL, such as the DATE or TIME data types. The most obvious such examples, and incidentally
2832-607: The table. In a sense similar to object–relational impedance mismatch , a mismatch occurs between the declarative SQL language and the procedural languages in which SQL is typically embedded. The SQL standard defines three kinds of data types (chapter 4.1.1 of SQL/Foundation): Constructed types are one of ARRAY, MULTISET, REF(erence), or ROW. User-defined types are comparable to classes in object-oriented language with their own constructors, observers, mutators, methods, inheritance, overloading, overwriting, interfaces, and so on. Predefined data types are intrinsically supported by
2891-479: The term has gradually come to describe a broader class of database systems, which at a minimum: In 1974, IBM began developing System R , a research project to develop a prototype RDBMS. The first system sold as an RDBMS was Multics Relational Data Store (June 1976). Oracle was released in 1979 by Relational Software, now Oracle Corporation . Ingres and IBM BS12 followed. Other examples of an RDBMS include IBM Db2 , SAP Sybase ASE , and Informix . In 1984,
2950-499: The title RDMS . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=RDMS&oldid=1152335433 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Relational database management system The concept of relational database
3009-767: The tuple contains a candidate or primary key then obviously it is unique; however, a primary key need not be defined for a row or record to be a tuple. The definition of a tuple requires that it be unique, but does not require a primary key to be defined. Because a tuple is unique, its attributes by definition constitute a superkey . All data are stored and accessed via relations . Relations that store data are called "base relations", and in implementations are called "tables". Other relations do not store data, but are computed by applying relational operations to other relations. These relations are sometimes called "derived relations". In implementations these are called " views " or "queries". Derived relations are convenient in that they act as
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#17327881030103068-473: The tuples, in turn, impose no order on the attributes. Applications access data by specifying queries, which use operations such as select to identify tuples, project to identify attributes, and join to combine relations. Relations can be modified using the insert , delete , and update operators. New tuples can supply explicit values or be derived from a query. Similarly, queries identify tuples for updating or deleting. Tuples by definition are unique. If
3127-401: The unique key of the linked row (such columns are known as foreign keys ). Codd showed that data relationships of arbitrary complexity can be represented by a simple set of concepts. Part of this processing involves consistently being able to select or modify one and only one row in a table. Therefore, most physical implementations have a unique primary key (PK) for each row in a table. When
3186-689: The values in each of the referencing attributes match the corresponding values in the referenced attributes." A stored procedure is executable code that is associated with, and generally stored in, the database. Stored procedures usually collect and customize common operations, like inserting a tuple into a relation , gathering statistical information about usage patterns, or encapsulating complex business logic and calculations. Frequently they are used as an application programming interface (API) for security or simplicity. Implementations of stored procedures on SQL RDBMS's often allow developers to take advantage of procedural extensions (often vendor-specific) to
3245-417: Was an initialism : / ˌ ɛ s ˌ k juː ˈ ɛ l / ("ess cue el"). Regardless, many English-speaking database professionals (including Donald Chamberlin himself ) use the acronym -like pronunciation of / ˈ s iː k w əl / ("sequel"), mirroring the language's prerelease development name, "SEQUEL". The SQL standard has gone through a number of revisions: The standard is commonly denoted by
3304-444: Was defined by E. F. Codd at IBM in 1970. Codd introduced the term relational in his research paper "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks". In this paper and later papers, he defined what he meant by relation . One well-known definition of what constitutes a relational database system is composed of Codd's 12 rules . However, no commercial implementations of the relational model conform to all of Codd's rules, so
3363-495: Was designed by a workgroup within IBM in the period 1988 to 1994. DRDA enables network connected relational databases to cooperate to fulfill SQL requests. The messages, protocols, and structural components of DRDA are defined by the Distributed Data Management Architecture . According to DB-Engines , in January 2023 the most popular systems on the db-engines.com web site were: According to research company Gartner , in 2011,
3422-440: Was initially developed at IBM by Donald D. Chamberlin and Raymond F. Boyce after learning about the relational model from Edgar F. Codd in the early 1970s. 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, System R , which a group at IBM San Jose Research Laboratory had developed during
3481-647: Was later changed to SQL (dropping the vowels) because "SEQUEL" was a trademark of the UK-based Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Engineering Limited company. The label SQL later became the acronym for Structured Query Language. 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 System/38 , SQL/DS , and IBM Db2 , which were commercially available in 1979, 1981, and 1983, respectively. In
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