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MICRO Relational Database Management System

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The Micro DBMS was the first-large scale set theoretic database management system to be used in production.[1] Its major underpinnings and algorithms were based on the set-theoretic model of D. L. Childs of the University of Michigan's CONCOMP (Conversational Use of Computers) Project.[2][3][4] It provided a natural language interface which allowed non-programmers to use the system.[5]

Implementation of Micro began in 1970 at the University of Michigan's Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations (ILIR) running under the Michigan Terminal System, the S/360 and S/370 time-sharing system developed at U-M. It was first used for the study and analysis of micro-statistics contained in the United States Census data base; hence the name of the system. Organizations such as the US Department of Labor, the US Environmental Protection Agency and researchers from University of Alberta, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and Durham University used Micro to manage very large scale databases. It continued to be used in production until 1998.

The underlying data model and retrieval algorithms used by Micro were deeply influenced by D. L. Childs' Set Theoretic Data Model. The Set Theoretic Data Model also influenced the relational model later made famous by Edgar F. Codd, a research scientist at IBM.[6][2] Although the underlying model was based on set theory, the Micro user interface provided a query language similar to those subsequently used in relational database management systems.

Micro permitted users with little programming experience to define, enter, interrogate, manipulate, and update collections of data in a relatively unstructured and unconstrained environment. An interactive system, Micro was powerful in terms of the complexity of requests which could be made by users without prior programming language experience.[7] Micro included basic statistical computations such as mean, variance, frequency, median, etc. If more rigorous statistical analysis were desired, the data from a Micro database could be used with the Michigan Interactive Data Analysis System (MIDAS),[8] a statistical analysis package available under the Michigan Terminal System (MTS).[9][10]

References

  1. ^ "A set theoretic data structure and retrieval language", William R. Hershey and Carol H. Easthope, Papers from the Session on Data Structures, Spring Joint Computer Conference, May 1972 in ACM SIGIR Forum, Volume 7, Issue 4 (December 1972), pp. 45-55, DOI=10.1145/1095495.1095500, Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA
  2. ^ a b "Sets, Data Models and Data Independence", by Ken North a Dr. Dobb's Blogger, March 10, 2010
  3. ^ Description of a set-theoretic data structure, D. L. Childs, 1968, Technical Report 3 of the CONCOMP (Research in Conversational Use of Computers) Project, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
  4. ^ Feasibility of a Set-Theoretic Data Structure : A General Structure Based on a Reconstituted Definition of Relation, D. L. Childs, 1968, Technical Report 6 of the CONCOMP (Research in Conversational Use of Computers) Project, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
  5. ^ MICRO Information Management System (Version 5.0) Reference Manual, M.A. Kahn, D.L. Rumelhart, and B.L. Bronson, October 1977, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations (ILIR), University of Michigan and Wayne State University
  6. ^ "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks", E.F. Codd, Communications of the ACM, volume 13, issue 6 (June 1970), pp. 77–387, doi= 10.1145/362384.362685
  7. ^ "Use of a Relational Database to Support Clinical Research: Application in a Diabetes Program", Diane Lomatch, M.P.H., Terry Truax, M.S., Peter Savage, M.D., Diabetes Center Unit, MDRTC, University of Michigan, 1981
  8. ^ Documentation for MIDAS, Daniel J. Fox and Kenneth E. Guire, Third Edition (September 1976), Statistical Research Laboratory, University of Michigan, 203 pp.
  9. ^ "Converting from Traditional File Structures to Database Management Systems: A Powerful Tool for Nursing Management", Yvonne Marie Abdoo, Ph.D., R.N, Wayne State University College of Nursing, 1987
  10. ^ "Chapter 6: MICRO" in Introduction to database management systems on MTS, Rick Rilio, User Guide Series, Computing Center, University of Michigan, March 1986, pages 147-189
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