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From: perk@informix.com (Paul Perkovic)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: SQL Standards
Message-ID: <1990Dec21.205822.16803@informix.com>
Date: 21 Dec 90 20:58:22 GMT
References: <5124@baird.cs.strath.ac.uk>
Sender: news@informix.com (Usenet News)
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.
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In an article from November jnw@cs.strath.ac.uk (John Wilson) writes:
>I have heard mention recently of SQL 2 and SQL 3.
>
>I suspect that SQL 1 is the 1986 ANSI standard and that 2 and 3 are
>subsequent revisions.
>
>Is anyone out there aware of these revisions? Is there published
>documentation describing the modified standards?
>
>John.

In the standards community, SQL-1 or SQL-1989 refers to ISO 9075:1989
(ANS X3.135-1989), Database Language SQL with Integrity Enhancement.

SQL-2 is a proposed replacement standard, Extended Database Language SQL,
which has just completed an ISO Committee Draft ballot; national body
comments will be resolved at an Editing Meeting in mid-January, 1991.
Internationally, the Committee Draft document dated July, 1990, carries
the number ISO/IEC JTC1/SC21 N5215.  You should be able to obtain a
copy through your national body (British Standards Institute).

Within the United States, a similar document (containing both the ISO
and ANSI proposed specifications, allowing comparison between the two)
is currently out for the ANSI Public Review process, which began
November 2, 1990, and extends through March 1, 1991.  Copies of this
draft standard are available from Global Engineering Documents, Inc.,
2805 McGaw Avenue, Irvine, CA  92714 (telephone 1-800-854-7179).
U.S. single copy price is $78.00; international orders are $98.50.

To quote from the ANSI press release (fixing a few typos):

  The draft standard includes provisions for schema manipulation,
  dynamic SQL, exception handling with diagnostics, and data
  administration, as well as substantial enhancements for data
  definition and data manipulation.  New data types include DATE,
  TIME, TIMESTAMP, and BITSTRING, together with a new facility
  for domain definition.  New operators include string manipulation,
  a case expression, outer join, union join, set operations, cast
  expressions for converting data types, and derived tables in the
  FROM clause.  New data definition capabilities include cascaded
  effects for referential integrity, variable length strings,
  character set collation, and recognition of new international
  character string requirements.

  The language is specified in three levels, including an Entry
  Level that is essentially identical to the SQL-1989 standard,
  an Intermediate Level including about half of the new facilities,
  and a Full Level comprising the complete specification.  A new
  "flagger requirement" will assist users in producing portable
  code for access to remote databases at different levels.  A
  database will be self-describing in the sense that all schema
  definitions are represented through common catalog tables,
  called the Information Schema, which can be viewed through the
  proper access control filters for each user.

ANSI Technical Committee X3H2, which has the U.S. development
responsibility for this standard, includes representatives of
vendors, government, commercial users, user groups, and academics
among its 50-person membership.  The purpose of a Public Review
is to ensure the widest possible consensus on the new features
and their technical specification before the standard is adopted.
If you enjoy reading standards documents and want to have some
influence on the direction in which SQL is going, now is the time
to review the document and get your Public Review comments
submitted.

Send your comments to:              Send a copy to:

  X3 Secretariat                      American National Standards Institute
  Attn: Lynn Barra                    Attn: BSR Center
  311 First Street NW, Suite 500      1430 Broadway
  Washington, DC  20001-2178          New York, NY  10018

Under the current timetable, the SQL-2 proposal could become an
ANSI and ISO standard by 1992.  If you don't like some of the new
features, or think that some essential features have been omitted,
NOW is the time to act -- otherwise, it will be too late.


SQL-3 adds even more features, which are mostly in the wishful
thinking stage at this point.

/ perk             perk@informix.com   ...{pyramid|uunet}!infmx!perk

Paul Perkovic / Standards Manager
Informix Software, Inc.   (415) 926-6821
4100 Bohannon Dr./ Menlo Park, CA  94025