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The '''MicroMICRO Relational Database Management System''' was one of the earliestfirst setlarge-scale [[set-theoretic/relational]] [[database management system]]s to be used in production.<ref name=Hershey1972>[httphttps://doidocs.acmgoogle.orgcom/10.1145/1095495.1095500open?id=0B4t_NX-QeWDYNmVhYjAwMWMtYzc3ZS00YjI0LWJhMjgtZTYyODZmNmFkNThh "A set theoretic data structure and retrieval language" (PDF)], William R. Hershey and Carol H. Easthope, PapersPaper from the Session on Data Structures, Spring Joint Computer Conference, May 1972 in ''ACM SIGIR Forum'', Volume 7, Issue 4 (December 1972), pp. 45-55, DOI=[http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1095495.1095500, Special10.1145/1095495.1095500]</ref> InterestThough GroupMICRO onwas initially considered to be an "Information RetrievalManagement System", Associationit forwas Computingeventually Machinery,recognized Newto York,provide NY,all USA</ref>the Itscapabilities of an RDBMS. MICRO's major underpinnings and algorithms were based on the setSet-theoreticTheoretic Data Structure (STDS) model ofdeveloped by [[David L. Childs|D. L. Childs]] of the University of Michigan's CONCOMP (Conversational Use of Computers) Project.<ref name=North2010>[http://www.drdobbs.com/blogblogs/archivesdatabase/2010/03/data_models_acc.html;jsessionid=FVGKQKEPO24D5QE1GHPSKHWATMY32JVN228700616 "Sets, Data Models and Data Independence"], by Ken North a Dr. Dobb's Blogger, March 10, 2010</ref><ref>[http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/4163 ''Description of a set-theoretic data structure''], DavidD. L. Childs, 1968, Technical Report 3 of the CONCOMP (Research in Conversational Use of Computers) Project, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA</ref><ref>[http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/4164 ''Feasibility of a Set-Theoretic Data Structure : A General Structure Based on a Reconstituted Definition of Relation''], DavidD. L. Childs, 1968, Technical Report 6 of the CONCOMP (Research in Conversational Use of Computers) Project, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA</ref> ItMICRO was also influenced tofeatured a lessernatural extentlanguage byinterface thewhich [[Relationalallowed database|relationalnon-programmers model]]to madeuse famousthe by [[Edgar F. Codd]], a research scientist at IBMsystem.<ref name=MICROManual1977>[httphttps://dxdocs.doigoogle.orgcom/10.1145/362384.362685viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B4t_NX-QeWDYZGMwOTRmOTItZTg2Zi00YmJkLTg4MTktN2E4MWU0YmZlMjE3 "A''MICRO RelationalInformation ModelManagement ofSystem Data(Version for5.0) LargeReference Shared Data Banks"Manual''], EM.FA. CoddKahn, Communications ofD.L. the ACMRumelhart, volumeand 13,B.L. issue 6 (June 1970)Bronson, pp.October 77–3871977, doi=Institute 10.1145/362384.362685</ref>of ItLabor usedand aIndustrial naturalRelations language(ILIR), interfaceUniversity whichof allowedMichigan non-programmersand toWayne useState the system.University</ref><ref>[https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4t_NX-QeWDYZGJqRVBaSEdMVnc ''MICRO: InformationA Relational Database Management System''], (VersionHarry 5F.0) Reference ManualClark, M.A.David Kahn, D.LE. RumelhartHetrick, andRobert B.LC. BronsonBressan, OctoberJuly 19771992, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations (ILIR), University of Michigan, 451 pages, {{ISBN|9780877363507}}</ref>
Implementation of MICRO began in 1970 as part of the Labor Market Information System (LMIS) project at the University of Michigan's Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations (ILIR). Dr. Malcolm S. Cohen was Director of the LMIS Project and was the principal innovator and designer of the original MICRO Retrieval System.<ref>[http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED094719&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED094719 ''Feasibility of a Labor Market Information System, Volume 3, Final Report for Period July 1, 1970-June 30, 1974''], Malcolm S. Cohen, Labor Market Information System (LMIS) Project, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of Michigan, June 1974, 76 pages, PDF</ref> Carol Easthope and Jack Guskin were the principal programmers. D.L. Childs, Vice President of Set Theoretic Information Systems (STIS) Corporation, provided continuing guidance in the use of Set-Theoretic Data Structure (STDS) data access software for MICRO. Funding came from the Office of Manpower Administration within the U.S. Department of Labor.<ref name=MICROManual1977/> MICRO was first used for the study of large social science data bases referred to as micro data; hence the name. Organizations such as the [[United States Department of Labor|US Department of Labor]], the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|US Environmental Protection Agency]], and researchers from the [[University of Alberta]], the [[University of Michigan]], [[Wayne State University]], the [[University of Newcastle upon Tyne]], and [[Durham University]] used MICRO to manage very large scale databases until 1998.
Micro permitted users with little programming experience to define, enter, interrogate, manipulate and update collections of data in a relatively unstructured and unconstrained environment. An interactive system, Micro was powerful in terms of the complexity of requests which could be made by users without prior programming language experience.<ref>"[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2581360/pdf/procascamc00021-0314.pdf Use of a Relational Database to Support Clinical Research: Application in a Diabetes Program]", Diane Lomatch, M.P.H., Terry Truax, M.S., Peter Savage, M.D., Diabetes Center Unit, MDRTC, University of Michigan, 1981</ref> Micro includes basic statistical computations such as mean, variance, frequency, median, etc. If more rigorous statistical analysis were desired, the data from a Micro database could be used with Michigan Interactive Data Analysis System (MIDAS), a statistical analysis package available under the [[Michigan Terminal System]] (MTS).<ref>"[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2245120/pdf/procascamc00019-0674.pdf Converting from Traditional File Structures to Database Management Systems: A Powerful Tool for Nursing Management"], Yvonne Marie Abdoo, Ph.D., R.N, Wayne State University College of Nursing, 1987</ref> ▼
MICRO runs under the [[Michigan Terminal System]] (MTS), the interactive time-sharing system developed at the University of Michigan that runs on [[IBM System/360 Model 67]], [[System/370]], and compatible mainframe computers.<ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?view=image;size=100;id=mdp.39015014920717;page=root;seq=5 "Chapter 6: MICRO" in ''Introduction to database management systems on MTS''], Rick Rilio, User Guide Series, Computing Center, University of Michigan, March 1986, pages 147-189</ref> MICRO provides a query language, a database directory, and a data dictionary to create an interface between the user and the very efficient proprietary Set-Theoretic Data Structure (STDS) software developed by the Set-Theoretic Information Systems Corporation (STIS) of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The lower level routines from STIS treat the data bases as sets and perform set operations on them, e.g., union, intersection, restrictions, etc. Although the underlying STDS model is based on set theory, the MICRO user interface is similar to those subsequently used in [[relational database management systems]].<ref name=North2010/><ref>[https://dx.doi.org/10.1145/362384.362685 "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks"], E.F. Codd, Communications of the ACM, volume 13, issue 6 (June 1970), pp. 77–387, doi= 10.1145/362384.362685</ref> MICRO's data representation can be thought of as a matrix or table in which the rows represent different records or "cases", and the columns contain individual data items for each record; however, the actual data representation is in set-theoretic form. In labor market applications the rows typically represent job applicants or employees and columns represent fields such as age, sex, and income or type of industry, number of employees, and payroll.<ref name=Hershey1972/>
Implementation of Micro began in 1970 at the University of Michigan's Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations (ILIR) and ran under the [[Michigan Terminal System]], the time-sharing system developed at U-M. It was first used for the study and analysis of micro-statistics contained in the United States Census data base; hence the name of the system.
▲MicroMICRO permittedpermits users with little programming experience to define, enter, interrogate, manipulate , and update collections of data in a relatively unstructured and unconstrained environment. <ref name=MICROManual1977/> An interactive system, MicroMICRO wasis powerful in terms of the complexity of requests which couldcan be made by users without prior programming language experience.<ref>"[ httphttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2581360/pdf/procascamc00021-0314.pdf Use of a Relational Database to Support Clinical Research: Application in a Diabetes Program]", Diane Lomatch, M.P.H., Terry Truax, M.S., Peter Savage, M.D., Diabetes Center Unit, MDRTC, University of Michigan, 1981</ref> MicroMICRO includes basic statistical computations such as mean, variance, frequency, median, etc. If more rigorous statistical analysis wereare desired, the data from a MicroMICRO database couldcan be usedexported withto the Michigan Interactive Data Analysis System (MIDAS), <ref>[http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015004498013;page=root;view=image;size=100;seq=3;num=i ''Documentation for MIDAS''], Daniel J. Fox and Kenneth E. Guire, Third Edition (September 1976), Statistical Research Laboratory, University of Michigan, 203 pp.</ref> a statistical analysis package available under the [[Michigan Terminal System ]] (MTS).<ref>"[ httphttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2245120/pdf/procascamc00019-0674.pdf Converting from Traditional File Structures to Database Management Systems: A Powerful Tool for Nursing Management"], Yvonne Marie Abdoo, Ph.D., R.N, Wayne State University College of Nursing, 1987</ref>
The underlying data model and retrieval algorithms were deeply influenced by David Childs' Set Theoretic Data Model. Although the underlying model was based on set theory, the user interface utilized a query language subsequently used in relational database management systems. It became the first-large scale set theoretic/relational database management system to be used in production. Organizations such as the [[United States Department of Labor|US Department of Labor]], the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|US Environmental Protection Agency]] and researchers from [[University of Alberta]], the [[University of Michigan]], [[Wayne State University]], the [[University of Newcastle upon Tyne]], and [[Durham University]] used it to manage very large scale databases. Micro continued to run in production until 1998.
== References ==
{{Reflist |30em}}
== External links ==
[http://www.eecs.umich.edu/db/ University of Michigan Database Research Group]
[[Category:Proprietary database management systems]]
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