xml-dev - sequel=> SQL, SGML=> XML

["KenNorth" <KenNorth@email.msn.com>]

> SQL it's pronounced 'Sequel' so, it must be "a sequel command"

Pablo,

That is popular usage, but it's incorrect. The 'sequel' pronunciation is a
carryover from when there was actually a SEQUEL language. That was in the
era before SQL became an international standard. For clarification, we can
go right to the people who wrote the SQL standard.

Jim Melton, editor of the ISO SQL-92 standard, covered this in his book
_Understanding the New SQL_ (Morgan Kaufmann):

"1.2 What is SQL?
SQL (correctly pronounced "ess cue ell," instead of the somewhat common
"sequel"), is a data sublanguage ..."

He also explains 'Structured Query Language' is archaic:
"Many books and article "define" SQL by parenthetically claiming the letters
stand for Structured Query Language. While this was true for the original
prototypes, it is not true of the standard..."


'Structured Query Language' and 'sequel' are pre-cursors to today's SQL
standard, just as SGML is a pre-cursor to XML.




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