The first databases appeared a long time ago, as soon as the need to process large amounts of information and select groups of records according to certain characteristics appeared. For this purpose, the structured query language SQL {Structured Query Language) was created. It is based on a powerful mathematical theory and allows for efficient database processing, manipulating groups of records, not individual records.
DBMSs (Database Management Systems) have been developed to manage large databases and process them efficiently. Almost every DBMS in addition to supporting SQL has its own unique language, focused on the specifics of the DBMS and is not portable to other systems. Today, there are three leading DBMS manufacturers in the world: Microsoft (SQL Server).
IBM (DB2) and Oracle. Their products are intended to support simultaneous work of thousands of users in a network, and databases can be stored in a distributed form on several servers. Each of these DBMS implements its own SQL dialect focused on the specifics of a particular server, so SQL programs prepared for different DBMS are usually incompatible with each other.
With the advent of personal computers, the so-called desktop DBMS were created. It was considered the ancestor of modern programming languages of databases for PC is dBase II, which language was interpreted.
Afterwards compilers were created for it, and then FoxPro and Clipper supporting its dialects appeared. Today the most common desktop DBMS is Microsoft Access.
Programming languages for the Internet
With the active development of the global network was created a lot of popular programming languages, adapted specifically for the Internet.
All of them have characteristic features: languages are interpreted, interpreters for them are distributed free of charge, and the programs themselves are in the source code. Such languages are called script-languages.
HTML. A well-known language for document formatting. It is very simple and contains elementary commands to format text, add pictures, set fonts and colors, organize links and tables. All Wefe-pages are written in HTML or use its extensions.
Perl. In the 1980s Larry Wall developed the Perl language. It was conceived as a means to efficiently process large text files, generate text reports, and manage tasks. Perl is much more powerful than languages like C. It introduces many frequently used functions for working with strings, arrays, all sorts of data conversion, process control, working with system information, etc.
RNR. Rasmus Lerdorf, who was actively using RNR scripts, decided in 1995 to improve this language, simplifying it and supplementing it with built-in database accesses. The result was the Personal Contents Page/Forms
Interpreter {PHP/FI). In just a couple of years, programs based on it were used on 50,000 sites. In 1997, improvements were made significantly by Andy Gutmane and Zeev Suraski, and the language quickly became known as PHP 3.0 to dynamic site builders around the world.
Tcl/Tc. In the late 1980s, John Austiraut invented the popular Tcl scripting language and the Tk library. In Tcl, he tried to embody his vision of an ideal scripting language. The Tcl language is focused on automating routine processes and consists of powerful commands designed to handle abstract untyped objects. It is independent of the type of system and yet allows you to create programs with a graphical interface.
VRML. The VRML language was created in 1994 to organize the virtual three-dimensional interfaces on the Internet. It allows you to describe in text form various three-dimensional scenes, lights and shadows, textures (covering objects), create your own worlds, travel around them, “fly around” from all sides, rotate in all directions, scale, adjust brightness, etc.
XML. In August 1996, the WWW Consortium, which is responsible for the standards for Internet technology, began preparing a universal language for marking up the structure of documents, based on the long-standing IBM SGML technology. The new language was called XML. Today it is the basis for many system, network and application applications, allowing to represent in a textual form transparent to users and programs different aspects of internal structure of hierarchically organized documents. In the near future it may replace HTML