Databases! Essential for everything!

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I am an IT major. I write webpages and web applications, even my blog is called 'Notes from a Nerd'. So, it isn't much of a surprise when I am given an assignment like 'Enlightment Knowledge Media' and I choose to write about databases...with a little look back in history.

A Database is simply 'a comprehensive collection of related data organized for convenient access"

I would venture to say that the earliest modern database was the encyclopedia. Diderot was an encyclopedic who spearheaded the first modern encyclopedia similar to what we have today (or had 10 years ago).

Growing up, whenever we had to research something for class, we would turn to our trusty encyclopedia set. published in 1993, there were almost an entire volume for every letter of the alphabet! This set, even each book individually, was a database! A series of records, a collection, organized conveniently, and related to other records!

These encyclopedias as we all know, became utterly useless and extinct with the introduction of HTML (hyper text markup language) it allowed us to link text to something, or somewhere, else---creating a digital encyclopedia.

However, simply linking wasn't good enough. We need to be able to store data, and view it at will. This is where databases came into play. One example of a database, one of the first successful, was the SABRE system.

In a nutshell, SABRE was a system that was used by American Airlines, and eventually Delta, Pan Am, British Airways, and many more. This system was an online booking system, which allowed agents and customers purchase their tickets real time, handling over 83000 daily phone calls. What was most extraordinary about this system was that is was implemented in 1964. Before the Personal Computer, before Steve Jobs was even born, this project was in the works.

SABRE was definitely ahead of its time...
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