Data Access Language: Difference between revisions

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'''Data Access Language for the Macintosh''', or simply '''DAL''', was a [[SQL]]-like language parserand [[application programming interface]] released by [[Apple Computer]] in 1990 to provide unified [[client/server]] access to [[database management system]]s. It was known for poor performance and high costs, something Apple did little to address over its short lifetime, before it was sold off in 1994. DAL is used as the native SQL dialect of the [[PrimeBase]] SQL server, as well as the now-defunct [[Butler SQL]].

== History ==

DAL started as a 3rd -party product, '''CL/1''' (''Connectivity Language One''), from a small vendor, Network Innovations. Apple purchased the company in 1988,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=jspVAAAAMAA about"Apple Acquires Network Innovations"]{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Wheels for the Mind'', Boston College, 1988</ref> during a time that client/server databases were becoming a hot issue in the industry. They released their first version of the re-branded software in 1989, for [[MVS]], and followed with other versions over the next year or so.

DAL suffered from most Apple problems of the early 1990s, notably aan alternating level of support in which Apple would presentaggressively promote the product and then ignore it. DAL'sThroughout, releasethe wascompany also coincidentstruggled with Apple'spromoting fallthe fromsystem graceas ina thecross-platform business worldstandard, andor notas coincidentiallya withMac-only [[Microsoft]]'s ODBC effortstechnology.<ref>Jeff It appears to have seen little useMoad, and eventually[https://books.google.com/books?id=uRlJAQAAIAAJ "Apple soldSays itYes to IndependenceSQL"], Technologies''Datamation'', in1990</ref> 1994,DAL's duringrelease awas sell-offalso ofcoincident awith numberApple's offall "high-end"from packagesgrace suchin asthe anbusiness [[X.400]]world, server.and Innot 1995coincidentally with [[BEA SystemsMicrosoft]] bought the company, and in turn sold it to's [[UniPriseODBC]] in late 1996. During this period it was basically a dead productefforts.

DAL appears to have seen little use, and eventually Apple sold it to Independence Technologies in 1994, during a sell-off of a number of "high-end" packages such as their [[X.400]] server and an [[Systems Network Architecture|SNA]] client.<ref>[http://www.xcbronline.com/news/apple_divests_data_access_language_snaps_takes_bedrock "Apple Divests Data Access Language, SNAps, take Bedrock"]{{Dead link|date=July 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Computer Business Review'', 26 January 1994</ref> Independence Technologies was a [[middleware]] vendor, better known as a major reseller of the [[Tuxedo (software)|Tuxedo]] product for [[Unix]]. In 1995 [[BEA Systems]] bought the company, and in turn sold it to [[UniPrise Systems]] in late 1996. No releases took place during this period.

DAL was essentially a cut-down version of SQL, supporting only the most basic functionality, but adding clean syntax for cursor operations, logic, and loops -- at that time no real standards existed for this side of SQL programming. When sent a command the DAL interpreter broke down the statement and re-built it into subqueries for the underlying data sources. This translation took place on the server-side, unlike most similar tools, requiring a fairly expensive "adaptor" program of dubious performance. This bit of architechture made DAL considerably less appealing than later systems like [[ODBC]], where the translation normally takes place on the client side and is typically "free".

== Description ==

On the client end, DAL was originally accessed directly through a "system extension", but DAL was later rolled into a single ODBC-like driver layer, [[Data Access Manager]]. One of the more common clients was [[HyperCard]]. The combination of HyperCard and DAL presented a serious challenge to existing vendors who could offer nothing with a GUI, and soon [[Oracle]] purchased a HyperCard-clone, PLUS from [[Spinnaker Software]], to produce [[Oracle Card]].

Like Oracle's [[PL/SQL]] or Microsoft's [[Transact-SQL]], DAL is essentially an extended version of SQL supporting basic query functionality and adding clean syntax for cursor operations, logic, and loops.

DALWhen was essentiallysent a cut-down version of SQLcommand, supporting only the most basic functionality, butearly adding clean syntax for cursor operations, logic, and loops -- at that time no real standards existed for this sideversions of SQL programming. When sent a command theApple's DAL interpreter broke down the statement and re-built it into subqueries for the underlying data sources. This translation took place on the [[server-side]], unlikejust mostlike similarPL/SQL toolsand Transact-SQL, requiringbut required a fairly expensive "adaptor" program of often dubious performance. This bit of architechtureadaptor made DAL considerably less appealing than later systems like [[ODBC]], where the translation normally takes place on the client side and is typically "included for free with the [[database engine]]. The downside to the ODBC approach is that, theoretically at least, more network bandwidth is used up to pull the "raw data" to the client machine for processing back into a standard format.

[[Category:Failed Apple initiatives]]

On the client end, DAL was originally accessed directly through a [[Extension (Mac OS)|system extension]] (named simply "DAL" in System 7), but it was later rolled into a single ODBC-like driver layer, the [[Data Access Manager]] (DAM). DAM was ODBC-like in concept, but did not include the SQL layers, it was strictly a system for sending "opaque" queries and receiving result sets. DAM also included the concept of a "query document" that allowed the DAL (or other) queries to be written in an [[authoring system]] and then easily used in any client application.

== Servers and clients ==

On the client end, DAL was originally accessed directly through a "system extension", but DAL was later rolled into a single ODBC-like driver layer, [[Data Access Manager]]. One of the more common clients for DAM was [[HyperCard]]. The combination of HyperCard and DAL presented a serious challenge to existing vendors who could offer nothing with a GUI. Apple gave a series of demos of HyperCard/DAL, and soon [[Oracle Corporation]] purchased a HyperCard-clone, [[WinPlus|PLUS]] from [[Spinnaker Software]], to produce [[Oracle Card]].

For much of the 1990s a direct-DAL database server was available on the Macintosh, [[Butler SQL]]. However, like any server software on the "classic" Mac OS, Butler was seriously hampered by the Mac's single-user [[file system]] and limited [[Computer multitasking|multitasking]] and could never really deliver the sort of performance the same server would have on [[Windows NT]] or [[Unix]].

The [[PrimeBase]] division of German software developer SNAP Innovation GmbH continues to support DAL in their cross platform SQL database server (originally known as P.INK SQL). Their extended version of DAL is called PrimeBaseTalk (PBT) and is fully backward compatible with DAL. Their architecture does not include Data Access Manager and the resulting performance gains are considerable.

IBM made available a DAL Server for the [[IBM i|AS/400 platform]] in 1995.<ref>[https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=DD&subtype=SM&htmlfid=897/ENUS5733-CSR IBM AS/400 Client Series End User Products], IBM</ref>

== References ==

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Macintosh operating systems development]]

[[Category:Classic Mac OS programming tools]]