From ICE to vPQL

From ICE to vPQL and …. beyond

From ICE to vPQLA look back at Eighteen years

of

SiR

andSiR 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 1983 – Handwritten slides and JCL/PQL listings 2001 - Powerpoint and WWW


1983 – Goldsmiths College – London

Two days First day for ICL user / convertor meeting Second day for the rest of the users

No published proceedingsNo real memory of the event except

Hard to get to Hard seats ICL convertor ‘bashing’ extended to day 2


1984 – Royal Hotel – London

European two day eventKey note speech in which SiR was almost

dismissed out of hand and relational praisedOne paper had 16 pages of schema listingsAnother talked of HOPP – Host Pre-

Processor which generated SiR/HOSTAlmost all papers were either typewritten or

fixed pitch fonts – nothing fancy !



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



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’


1985 – Hotel Russell – London

Two day UK only event – 77 attendeesKeynotes 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



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 ..



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



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’



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



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 ?


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 homeSpecial Interest Groups – SIGs

ICL SQL

Nothing on paper about SiR’s plans for next version



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



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


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



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 ?



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



Highlights the FOOD !!! Gestapo headquarters the FOOD !!! !!! Travel arrangements the FOOD !!! !!! !!! Island tour the FOOD !!! !!! !!! !!!!


1988 – Viking Hotel - YorkProceedings 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’


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


1988 – Viking Hotel - YorkSIGs

Statistics or SiR/PC SQL+ / ICL

SiR/EASYHighlights

My opening remarks – Still causing ‘discussions’ on last day

The view from the windows The Caribbean dinner


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



SiGs were now for all Technical PQL Data Base design

Question and Answer sessionDetailed explanation of 2.3 features



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


1990 - StaffordVery thin proceedings – combined with 1991Papers included

SiR towards the year 2000 – Wally Gazdzik House Doctor Allocation to Posts – Dave

Doulton Looking at an Alternative to SiR – Katherine

EllisPanel session – Hints & TipsOptional training session on first day


1990 - Stafford

Highlights


1991 - Portsmouth

First afternoon – optional training session on 3.0

Talk on Portsmouth – back againThemed sessions

SiR on PCs SiR under UNIX SiR and Tabfiles Version 3 and the future


1991 - Portsmouth

Highlights



Afternoon training PQL subroutines SiR debugger

Railways and York talkNo SIGsPanel discussionNews of 3.2



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 ?



More papers in proceedingsMost were word processedMany included good overheadsNo conference summary in proceedings Published in Reporter instead


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


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


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 ?


1994 – Periquito Hotel – London

Highlights Rabbit warren of a hotel The partial loss of interaction due to day

delegates Last set of published proceeding


1995 – 1998 1995 Edinburgh June (one day)

Kenilworth November 1996 Bremen March

London June (one day)Edinburgh November (one day)

1997 Sydney JanuaryLondon June (one day)Edinburgh November (one day)

1998 Florida AprilLondon June (one day)


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


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


What changes have we seenNo published proceedingsLess JCL / PQLPowerPoint presentationsMore emphasis on webFewer attendeesMuch more trainingNow look at the changes in SiR

NOT a ‘Blue Peter’ approach – ‘live’ demos

From ICE to vPQL

Documents

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