PRTV(Peterlee Relational Test Vehicle) was the world's firstrelational database management systemthat could handle significant data volumes.
It was a relational query system with powerful query facilities, but very limited update facility and no simultaneous multiuser facility. PRTV was a successor from the very first relational implementation,IS1.
Features
editPRTV included several firsts in the relational database area:
- implemented relational optimizer[1]
- implemented cost-based relational optimizer[2]
- handle tables of 1,000 rows up to 10,000,000 rows[3]
- user-defined functions(UDFs) within an RDB (also a large suite of built-in functions such as trigonometric and statistical)[4]
- geographic information system based on an RDB (using UDFs such as point-in-polygon).[5]
PRTV was based on a relational algebra, Information Systems Base Language (ISBL) and followed the relational model very strictly. Even features such as user-defined functions were formalized within that model.[6]The PRTV team also introduced surrogates to the relational model[4]to help formalize relational update operations; and a formalisation for updating through views.[7]However neither of these was implemented within PRTV. PRTV emphatically didnotimplement NULL values, because this conception was introduced only in 1979.[8]
PRTV was itself never available as a product, but the Urban Management System[9]built on it was available as a limited IBM product.
Implementation
editPRTV was written in a mixture of languages. The higher layers were written in MP/3 and PL/I,[2]: 297 whereas the lower layers were written in PL/I and System/370 assembler language.[2]: 301 MP/3 was a macro processing language developed at Peterlee from 1973 onwards, similar toML/IorTRAC.[10]PRTV ran on System/370 IBM mainframes.[2]: 301
References
edit- ^Hall, Patrick A.V. (May 1976). "Optimization of a single relational expression in a relational database system".IBM J. Res. Dev.20(3): 244–257.doi:10.1147/rd.203.0244.
- ^abcdTodd, Stephen (1976). "The Peterlee Relational Test Vehicle - A System Overview".IBM Systems Journal.15(4): 285–308.doi:10.1147/sj.154.0285.
- ^Storey, R.; W. Trebeljahr; N. Ourusoff; M. Bunzel (1979). "Report of the World Health Organisation Information Systems Programme and IBM UK Scientific Centre study on the design of information systems".UKSC Report 105.
- ^abHall, Patrick A.V.; J. Owlett; Stephen Todd (1976). "Relations and Entities". InNijssen,G.M. (ed.).IFIP Working Conference on Modelling in Data Base Management Systems 1976.North Holland. pp. 201–220.
- ^Aldred, B.K.; B.S. Smedley (May 1974). "An urban management system — general overview".Rep. No UKSC-53, IBM UK Scientific Center, Peterlee, England.
- ^Hall, Patrick A.V.; P. Hitchcock; Stephen Todd (January 1975). "An algebra of relations for machine computation".Conference record of the second ACM Symposium on the Principles of Programming Languages.Palo Alto, California: ACM. pp. 225–232.
- ^Todd, Stephen (August 1977). "Automatic Constraint Maintenance and Updating Defined Relations". In Gilchrist, Bruce (ed.).Proceedings of the IFIP Congress 1977.Toronto, Canada: North Holland. pp. 145–148.
- ^Codd, Edgar F. (December 1979). "Extending the Database Relational Model to Capture More Meaning".ACM Transactions on Database Systems.4(4): 397–434.CiteSeerX10.1.1.508.5701.doi:10.1145/320107.320109.S2CID17517212.
- ^Aldred, Barry K.; B.S. Smedley (May 1974). "An urban management system — general overview".Rep. No UKSC-53, IBM UK Scientific Center, Peterlee, England.
- ^A. J. Cole (26 November 1981)."MP/3 - a top end macro processor with system facilities".Macro Processors.CUP Archive. pp. 133–159.ISBN978-0-521-28560-5.