Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1.6
Including
Multimedia in a
Relational
Database.
best to build relations in a relational database and reserve complex
object structure for application code. Figure 1.6 shows storing of
binary images into a relational database.
1.1.2
The History of Relational Databases
Relational databases began with several papers written by Dr. Edgar F.
Codd. Numerous other papers followed by various other researchers. Figure
1.7 shows several distinct branches of development. These branches were
DB2 from IBM, Oracle Database from Oracle Corporation, and a multi-
tude of relational databases stemming from Ingres, which was initially con-
ceived by two scientists at the University of California at Berkeley.
In Figure 1.7, the most important point to note about the general devel-
opment path of relational databases is as follows: Development from one
database to another resided usually in different companies and was charac-
terized by movement of personnel rather than of database source code. In
other words, the people invented the different databases, not the compa-
nies, where people moved between different companies. Additionally,
numerous object databases have been developed. Object databases generally
