Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!uflorida!mephisto!psuvax1!psuvm!uh2
From: UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: RDBMS for Amiga (REPOST)
Message-ID: <90102.144723UH2@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: 12 Apr 90 18:47:23 GMT
References: <3013@ritcsh.cs.rit.edu>
Organization: Penn State University
Lines: 38

In article <3013@ritcsh.cs.rit.edu>, kyle@ritcsh.cs.rit.edu (Kyle Saunders)
says:
>Hi all,
>
>        I'm currently working on a full-featured relational database program
>for the Amiga.  I was wondering how many people would be interested in
>such a program and what features would you like to see.
>

Please go for it! a decent PD RDBMS would be a wonderful addition to
the toolkit.  Now, for some suggestions

1.  Start simple, so we can make use of the prototype.  Assume your initial
users understand database.  Offer a language for Creating relations and
Attributes with a few standard types.  Offer a simple relational algebra
with Project, Select, Natural Join, Join, Outer Join, Union, Intersection,
and Difference.

2.  Use the regular Amiga environment as your "user interface".  For example,
users can create an ascii command file using any editor, use your rdbms (let
me call it R, for now) at the CLI as in

     DF1: > R >results commandfile

to process the commands, leaving the remaining output file in
results; or let WB users click-shift double click the command file.

3.  Remember that "report generation" is a very important part of what most
users believe a DBMS does, even though it isn't really part of DBMS.  You'll
need to include some sort of report generator.

I thinks steps 1 and 2 would be a good start.  Step 3 comes next, and
perhaps someone else would work on it in parallel.  Last comes data entry
screen painters, then a visual language for building queries, then SQL, then
converting the underlying engine into a server, then multi-machine servers,
then virtual reality, .....

Good luck.