PRTV (Peterlee Relational Test Vehicle) was the world's first relational database management system that 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 follow-on from the very first relational implementation, IS1.
Features
PRTV included several firsts in the relational database area:
- implemented relational optimizer [1]
- implemented cost based relational optimizer [2]
- handle tables of 1000 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 did not implement NULL values, because of the formal problems these pose.
PRTV was itself never available as a product, but the Urban Management System[8] built on it was available as a limited IBM product.
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Todd, Stephen (1976). "The Peterlee Relational Test Vehicle - A System Overview". IBM Systems Journal 15 (4): 285–308.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b Hall, Patrick A.V.; J. Owlett, Stephen Todd (1976), "Relations and Entities", in Nijssen, G.M., 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, Proceedings of the IFIP Congress 1977, Toronto, Canada: North Holland, pp. 145–148
- ^ Aldred, Barry K.; B.S. Smedley (May 1974). "An urban management system — general overview". Rep. No UKSC-53, IBM UK Scientific Center, Peterlee, England.
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