1 / 42

From ICE to vPQL

From ICE to vPQL. A look back at Eighteen years of SiR and SiR conferences (1983 – 2001). Changes in the appearance of SiR. The user interface has changed beyond all recognition 1983 - character based 2001 - GUI The style and content of the conference has changed as well

aimee-trevino
Download Presentation

From ICE to vPQL

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. From ICE to vPQL A look back at Eighteen years of SiR andSiR conferences(1983 – 2001)

  2. Changes in the appearance of SiR • The user interface has changed beyond all recognition • 1983 - character based • 2001 - GUI • The style and content of the conference has changed as well • 1983 – Handwritten slides and JCL/PQL listings • 2001 - Powerpoint and WWW

  3. 1983 – Goldsmiths College – London • Two days • First day for ICL user / convertor meeting • Second day for the rest of the users • No published proceedings • No real memory of the event except • Hard to get to • Hard seats • ICL convertor ‘bashing’ extended to day 2

  4. 1984 – Royal Hotel – London • European two day event • Key note speech in which SiR was almost dismissed out of hand and relational praised • One paper had 16 pages of schema listings • Another talked of HOPP – Host Pre-Processor which generated SiR/HOST • Almost all papers were either typewritten or fixed pitch fonts – nothing fancy !

  5. 1984 – Royal Hotel – London • SiR enhancements • Concurrent SiR/FORMS updating • Double key entry in SiR/FORMS • SQL+ SAVE TABLE in SiR/DBMS • New SiR products • SiR/GRAPH • PC versions of SiR/DBMS

  6. 1984 – Royal Hotel – London • Highlights • Hand written slides • Hard to see screen due to layout of room • Appalling time keeping by session chairmen • Names and Papers to note • Kathy Brooks of Pinpoint mentioned in one paper • Bernie Enlander on the ‘Relational model & SiR’ • John Lemon on ‘Cows in Cairo’

  7. 1985 – Hotel Russell – London • Two day UK only event – 77 attendees • Keynotes speech indicated the way ahead was ‘Intelligent Knowledge Based Systems’ • Relied heavily on PROLOG • ‘SQL is not enough’ by Barry Robinson outlined pitfalls in SQL • Highly readable • Still relevant today

  8. 1985 – Hotel Russell – London • Papers were both technical and user applications • ‘Missing Values in SiR’ by Catherine Ellis • ‘Menu driven systems in SiR by K. Brooks and B. Enlander • ‘The UK Family expenditure Survey’ by M. Janes • ‘Pancreatic Cancer in North East Scotland’ by ..

  9. 1985 – Hotel Russell – London • SiR Inc announcements • Read / Write external files • Access SQL tabfiles from PQL • Indexes on TABFILES • MODIFY SCHEMA command • Improved journalling including UPLOAD / DOWNLOAD • SQL updating • FORMS runs on IBM 327x terminals

  10. 1985 – Hotel Russell – London • SiR Inc announcements • Full screen data base definition – SCHEMA • eSQL+ - embedded SQL for FORTRAN • SIR/PC • 512K RAM • 10 Mbytes disc • Maths co-processor • SIR/GRAPH – create data set from DBMS or SQL – then ‘edit’

  11. 1985 – Hotel Russell – London • SiR Inc announcements for version 3 • File system spanning devices • Full concurrency over all modules • Transaction COMMIT processing • Automatic ‘roll-back’ recovery • Improved integration of modules • Improved and integrated security across all modules

  12. 1985 – Hotel Russell – London • Highlights • Barry Robinson's paper on SQL • The ‘upbeat’ sales pitch for version 3 • The lack of anything ‘outwith’ the conference • And was this the place where the ‘Blue-tacked’ posters demolished the plasterwork ?

  13. 1986 – Old Swan Hotel - Harrogate • Fourth conference and first outside London • Hotel was where Agatha Christie ‘disappeared’ • Much better atmosphere • People talked instead of going home • Special Interest Groups – SIGs • ICL • SQL • Nothing on paper about SiR’s plans for next version

  14. 1986 – Old Swan Hotel - Harrogate • Papers and proceedings • had less code • More diagrams • Overheads were getting better • ‘The use of SiR/DBMS as a teaching tool’ – Elizabeth Frondigoun • ‘Generating Personalised Mail from a SiR data base’ – Linda Croxford

  15. 1986 – Old Swan Hotel - Harrogate • User enhancement poll • Checkpoint on retrievals • SPSSx SAVE FILE • Better integration of modules • Saving summary file for re-processing • Better performance • FORMS enhancements • Full screen editor support • Transaction processing –COMMIT / ROLLBACK

  16. 1987 – Pomme D’Or - Jersey • Longest conference ever • Tuesday arrival – Friday departure • SIGs • ICL (still ) and now SIR/PC • SQL or Large data bases • Still a bit of Oracle ‘bashing’ • ISI & USIR were promising wonderful things

  17. 1987 – Pomme D’Or - Jersey • USIR report • SIR/GRAPH – PC based using summary file • SIR/LAN • SIR/ENGINE – 3 x 80386 processors • SIR/FORMS to be replaced with ICE system • Internal restructure of SiR files • Record instead of case based • Would allow partial backups and restores • How much of this have we seen ?

  18. 1987 – Pomme D’Or - Jersey • Papers • A comparison of SiR and Oracle - Barry Robinson • The relevance of Relation Theory to Today’s SiR user – Trevor Simpson • SiR Medians – Steve Flack • SiR – 5 years on and a Little bit wiser – Fred Johnston • Storing historical data – Dave Doulton

  19. 1987 – Pomme D’Or - Jersey • Highlights • the FOOD !!! • Gestapo headquarters • the FOOD !!! !!! • Travel arrangements • the FOOD !!! !!! !!! • Island tour • the FOOD !!! !!! !!! !!!!

  20. 1988 – Viking Hotel - York • Proceedings getting thinner • Papers from one-day Edinburgh meeting • Less ‘waffle’ / listings in papers • Harder to get presenters to produce paper versions • Time • Effort • More ( and better overheads ) • Talk on York and it’s history – now becoming a ‘feature’

  21. 1988 – Viking Hotel - York • Papers included • Retrieval Procedures Generation via Forms Menus – Carmen Lopez • SiR data base in haste, with no previous experience – Phillip Mullock • Customised Data Dictionary Reports using SiR/SQL+ - Bernie Enlander • Confessions of a none-to-experience SiR user – Dave Stone

  22. 1988 – Viking Hotel - York • SIGs • Statistics or SiR/PC • SQL+ / ICL • SiR/EASY • Highlights • My opening remarks • Still causing ‘discussions’ on last day • The view from the windows • The Caribbean dinner

  23. 1989 – Great Danes – Maidstone • Yet more new owners of SiR • Mo and Tony Reardon • Papers showed moves • From Batch to Interactive mode • Word processing instead of typewriters • Towards user papers • Fewer technical • Just copies of overhead slides

  24. 1989 – Great Danes – Maidstone • SiGs were now for all • Technical • PQL • Data Base design • Question and Answer session • Detailed explanation of 2.3 features

  25. 1989 – Great Danes – Maidstone • Highlights • Access to the hotel • No taxis • Walk over the M2 (?) motorway construction site • Talk on ‘Kent Past and Present’ • Tour of Leeds Castle • Conference dinner in a mediaeval banqueting hall

  26. 1990 - Stafford • Very thin proceedings – combined with 1991 • Papers included • SiR towards the year 2000 – Wally Gazdzik • House Doctor Allocation to Posts – Dave Doulton • Looking at an Alternative to SiR – Katherine Ellis • Panel session – Hints & Tips • Optional training session on first day

  27. 1990 - Stafford • Highlights

  28. 1991 - Portsmouth • First afternoon – optional training session on 3.0 • Talk on Portsmouth – back again • Themed sessions • SiR on PCs • SiR under UNIX • SiR and Tabfiles • Version 3 and the future

  29. 1991 - Portsmouth • Highlights

  30. 1992 – Viking Hotel - York • Afternoon training • PQL subroutines • SiR debugger • Railways and York talk • No SIGs • Panel discussion • News of 3.2

  31. 1992 – Viking Hotel - York • Hints and Tips sessions • Concurrency • Monitoring retrievals • Design • Papers • ‘Yes SiR, No SiR’ - should CES keep SiR • ‘The Case for Caselessness, when less means more’ – the move away from hierarchical ?

  32. 1992 – Viking Hotel - York • More papers in proceedings • Most were word processed • Many included good overheads • No conference summary in proceedings • Published in Reporter instead

  33. 1993 – London • Data Base designs training session – Tony Reardon & Heather Goldsmith • Experimented with a number of 15 minute papers to encourage some ‘new blood’ • Lots of Tips & Tricks and training type papers • Question & Answer session • Panel discussion

  34. 1993 – London • Memories • No indication as to where in London • Could have been North west ? • Late starts to accommodate ‘day delegates’ • Proceedings were nearly all word processed but still some PQL and schema listings appeared

  35. 1994 – Periquito Hotel – London • International conference • Speakers from 3 continents • Delegates from 6 countries • Papers covered • Applications design • Esoterics of SiR/Host • A screen painter in PQL • Statistics in SiR • Is SiR the best ?

  36. 1994 – Periquito Hotel – London • Highlights • Rabbit warren of a hotel • The partial loss of interaction due to day delegates • Last set of published proceeding

  37. 1995 – 1998 • 1995 Edinburgh June (one day) Kenilworth November • 1996 Bremen March London June (one day) Edinburgh November (one day) • 1997 Sydney January London June (one day) Edinburgh November (one day) • 1998 Florida April London June (one day)

  38. 1999 – Grassmarket - Edinburgh • First time electronic presentations outweighed paper • Highlights • First real sight of SiR 2000 • The ‘ghost tour’ of Edinburgh • The view from the hotel windows

  39. 2000 – Old Mill - Colchester • Speakers had to provide electronic version of paper before conference • Not for publication but to be loaded on PC • Highlights • Really a one day conference • Preceded by two days of training • Is this the way of the future to encourage attendance

  40. What changes have we seen • No published proceedings • Less JCL / PQL • PowerPoint presentations • More emphasis on web • Fewer attendees • Much more training • Now look at the changes in SiR • NOT a ‘Blue Peter’ approach – ‘live’ demos

More Related