DBase III
 |
|
| Paradigm | Imperative, Declarative |
|---|---|
| Developer | Cecil Wayne Ratliff |
| First appeared | 1979 |
| Stable release |
dBASE PLUS 11 / 14 December 2016
|
| Implementation language | C |
| OS | Microsoft Windows |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www |
| Influenced | |
| Clipper, WordTech products, Harbour. FoxBASE+, FoxPro, Visual FoxPro, VP-Info | |
dBase (also stylized dBASE) was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers, and the most successful in its day. The dBase system includes the core database engine, a query system, a forms engine, and a programming language that ties all of these components together. dBase's underlying file format, the .dbf file, is widely used in applications needing a simple format to store structured data.
dBase was originally published by Ashton-Tate for microcomputer operating system CP/M in 1980, and later ported to Apple II and IBM PC computers running DOS. On the PC platform, in particular, dBase became one of the best-selling software titles for a number of years. A major upgrade was released as dBase III, and ported to a wider variety of platforms, adding UNIX, and VMS. By the mid-1980s, Ashton-Tate was one of the "big three" software publishers in the early business software market, the others being Lotus Development and WordPerfect.
Starting in the mid-1980s, several companies produced their own variations on the dBase product and especially the dBase programming language. These included FoxBASE+ (later renamed FoxPro), Clipper, and other so-called xBase products. Many of these were technically stronger than dBase, but could not push it aside in the market. This changed with the disastrous introduction of dBase IV, whose design and stability were so poor that many users switched to other products. At the same time, there was growing use of IBM-invented SQL (Structured Query Language) in database products. Another factor was user adoption of Microsoft Windows on desktop computers. The shift toward SQL and Windows put pressure on the makers of xBase products to invest in major redesign to provide new capabilities.
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