<s>
RETRIEVE	B-Application
is	O
a	O
database	B-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
(	O
DBMS	O
)	O
offered	O
on	O
Tymshare	O
's	O
systems	O
starting	O
in	O
August	O
1971	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
written	O
in	O
Tymshare	O
's	O
own	O
SUPER	B-Application
FORTRAN	I-Application
on	O
the	O
SDS	B-Device
940	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
earliest	O
examples	O
of	O
software	B-Architecture
as	I-Architecture
a	I-Architecture
service	I-Architecture
(	O
SaaS	B-Architecture
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RETRIEVE	B-Application
was	O
highly	O
influential	O
and	O
spawned	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
relatively	O
direct	O
clones	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Wang	O
Laboratories	O
's	O
RECALL	O
on	O
the	O
Wang	B-Language
2200	I-Language
minicomputer	B-Architecture
was	O
almost	O
identical	O
to	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
,	O
to	O
the	O
point	O
the	O
differences	O
were	O
detailed	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
page	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Wayne	O
Ratliff	O
,	O
a	O
contractor	O
at	O
JPL	O
for	O
many	O
years	O
,	O
was	O
inspired	O
by	O
JPLDIS	O
to	O
port	O
it	O
to	O
the	O
IMSAI	B-Device
8080	I-Device
to	O
manage	O
his	O
football	O
pool	O
,	O
later	O
releasing	O
it	O
commercially	O
as	O
Vulcan	O
for	O
CP/M	B-Application
in	O
1979	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ashton-Tate	O
licensed	O
Vulcan	O
and	O
re-released	O
it	O
as	O
dBASE	B-Application
II	I-Application
in	O
1980	O
,	O
which	O
sparked	O
the	O
microcomputer	B-Architecture
database	O
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
of	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
's	O
original	O
syntax	O
remains	O
unchanged	O
in	O
dBASE	B-Application
and	O
the	O
many	O
xBASE	B-Language
clones	O
that	O
survive	O
into	O
the	O
21st	O
century	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1969	O
,	O
Jim	O
Ryan	O
of	O
Tymshare	O
designed	O
an	O
expanded	O
version	O
of	O
IBM	B-Application
System/360	I-Application
H-level	O
(	O
258kB	O
)	O
FORTRAN	B-Application
,	O
adding	O
strings	O
and	O
other	O
features	O
that	O
took	O
advantage	O
of	O
their	O
SDS	B-Device
940	I-Device
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ryan	O
hired	O
Richard	O
Moore	O
and	O
Franck	O
Bracher	O
to	O
develop	O
it	O
as	O
SUPER	B-Application
FORTRAN	I-Application
,	O
and	O
it	O
went	O
live	O
on	O
their	O
systems	O
in	O
1970	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Soon	O
after	O
SUPER	B-Application
FORTRAN	I-Application
was	O
released	O
,	O
Arden	O
Scott	O
asked	O
Moore	O
to	O
use	O
SUPER	B-Application
FORTRAN	I-Application
to	O
develop	O
his	O
vision	O
of	O
a	O
database	B-Application
management	I-Application
system	I-Application
(	O
DBMS	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
the	O
1970s	O
,	O
Tymshare	O
began	O
moving	O
their	O
systems	O
from	O
SDS	O
to	O
the	O
PDP-10	B-Device
platform	O
,	O
eventually	O
running	O
TOPS-10	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
MAGNUM	O
was	O
a	O
complete	O
relational	B-Application
database	I-Application
engine	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
many	O
references	O
it	O
is	O
claimed	O
to	O
be	O
the	O
first	O
such	O
system	O
offered	O
commercially	O
when	O
it	O
went	O
live	O
in	O
October	O
1975	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
most	O
Tymshare	O
customers	O
,	O
and	O
internal	O
users	O
,	O
switched	O
to	O
MAGNUM	O
,	O
by	O
this	O
time	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
had	O
been	O
ported	O
to	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
platforms	O
and	O
these	O
versions	O
remained	O
very	O
popular	O
outside	O
the	O
company	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Fred	O
Thompson	O
had	O
been	O
using	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
to	O
manage	O
a	O
database	O
of	O
mechanical	O
calculators	O
at	O
JPL	O
,	O
and	O
decided	O
to	O
bring	O
the	O
system	O
in-house	O
when	O
the	O
1108	O
's	O
arrived	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1973	O
the	O
Wang	B-Language
2200	I-Language
was	O
released	O
,	O
a	O
desktop	O
minicomputer	B-Architecture
with	O
cassette	B-Device
tape	I-Device
storage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RETRIEVE	B-Application
was	O
ported	O
to	O
this	O
platform	O
under	O
the	O
name	O
RECALL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
do	O
this	O
,	O
he	O
started	O
looking	O
for	O
a	O
database	B-Application
system	I-Application
and	O
,	O
by	O
chance	O
,	O
came	O
across	O
the	O
documentation	O
for	O
JPLDIS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
used	O
this	O
as	O
the	O
basis	O
for	O
a	O
port	O
to	O
PTDOS	B-Operating_System
on	O
his	O
kit-built	O
IMSAI	B-Device
8080	I-Device
microcomputer	B-Architecture
,	O
and	O
called	O
the	O
resulting	O
system	O
Vulcan	O
(	O
after	O
Mr.	B-Language
Spock	I-Language
on	O
Star	B-Operating_System
Trek	I-Operating_System
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
later	O
ported	O
to	O
CP/M	B-Application
when	O
that	O
system	O
became	O
almost	O
universal	O
in	O
the	O
S-100	B-Architecture
bus	I-Architecture
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
He	O
arranged	O
a	O
licensing	O
deal	O
with	O
Ratliff	O
,	O
renamed	O
it	O
to	O
dBASE	B-Application
II	I-Application
to	O
make	O
it	O
sound	O
like	O
the	O
second	O
version	O
,	O
and	O
put	O
it	O
on	O
the	O
market	O
for	O
$695	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	O
was	O
a	O
success	O
,	O
and	O
in	O
1981	O
,	O
IBM	O
commissioned	O
a	O
port	O
to	O
the	O
still-unreleased	O
PC	B-Operating_System
DOS	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
a	O
runaway	O
success	O
,	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
big	O
three	O
packages	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
Word	B-Application
Perfect	I-Application
and	O
Lotus	B-Application
1-2-3	I-Application
that	O
made	O
up	O
the	O
equivalent	O
of	O
an	O
office	O
suite	O
in	O
the	O
early	O
DOS	B-Device
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RETRIEVE	B-Application
was	O
a	O
non-relational	O
database	O
,	O
that	O
concept	O
not	O
being	O
introduced	O
until	O
1970	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RETRIEVE	B-Application
databases	B-Application
contained	O
a	O
single	O
table	O
stored	O
in	O
a	O
single	O
file	O
,	O
which	O
typically	O
used	O
a	O
short-form	O
of	O
the	O
database	O
name	O
as	O
the	O
filename	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
system	O
was	O
interactive	O
,	O
using	O
a	O
command	B-Device
prompt	I-Device
within	O
the	O
system	O
for	O
user	O
interaction	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
to	O
start	O
a	O
new	O
database	O
the	O
user	O
would	O
type	O
at	O
the	O
command	B-Device
prompt	I-Device
,	O
which	O
would	O
then	O
respond	O
by	O
asking	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
type	O
in	O
the	O
name	O
for	O
the	O
database	O
and	O
then	O
prompt	O
for	O
the	O
field	O
definitions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Existing	O
databases	B-Application
were	O
loaded	O
using	O
or	O
(	O
they	O
were	O
equivalent	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RETRIEVE	B-Application
supported	O
all	O
basic	O
comparisons	O
,	O
,	O
,	O
,	O
,	O
and	O
for	O
not-equals	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
found	O
in	O
some	O
contemporary	O
BASICs	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unusually	O
,	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
also	O
included	O
English	O
expansions	O
of	O
traditional	O
comparisons	O
,	O
so	O
one	O
could	O
use	O
either	O
or	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
works	O
in	O
a	O
similar	O
fashion	O
,	O
but	O
has	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
options	O
to	O
pretty-print	B-Application
the	O
output	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
RETRIEVE	B-Application
supported	O
two	O
interactive	O
methods	O
to	O
update	O
existing	O
records	O
,	O
and	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
worked	O
similarly	O
to	O
the	O
modern	O
SQL	B-Language
equivalent	O
,	O
,	O
taking	O
a	O
selector	O
expression	O
of	O
some	O
sort	O
,	O
one	O
or	O
more	O
fields	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
new	O
values	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Utility	O
commands	O
included	O
which	O
printed	O
out	O
the	O
database	B-Application
schema	I-Application
,	O
and	O
which	O
returned	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
records	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
was	O
often	O
used	O
interactively	O
,	O
the	O
system	O
also	O
included	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
save	O
lists	O
of	O
commands	O
to	O
files	O
and	O
then	O
play	O
them	O
back	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Command	O
files	O
could	O
also	O
include	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
other	O
"	O
helper	O
"	O
statements	O
,	O
including	O
to	O
output	O
any	O
string	O
,	O
to	O
suppress	O
the	O
command	B-Device
prompt	I-Device
(	O
a	O
period	O
)	O
,	O
to	O
turn	O
the	O
prompt	O
back	O
on	O
,	O
and	O
and	O
to	O
stop	O
the	O
playback	O
from	O
appearing	O
on	O
the	O
terminal	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
command	O
files	O
were	O
run	O
using	O
the	O
statement	O
from	O
the	O
internal	O
command	O
line	O
or	O
from	O
outside	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
,	O
in	O
EXECUTIVE	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
the	O
script	O
intended	O
to	O
leave	O
the	O
user	O
in	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
at	O
the	O
end	O
,	O
one	O
could	O
put	O
a	O
at	O
the	O
end	O
,	O
"	O
running	O
"	O
the	O
Terminal	O
,	O
which	O
specified	O
what	O
should	O
happen	O
next	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
separated	O
by	O
almost	O
a	O
decade	O
,	O
and	O
having	O
moved	O
across	O
four	O
platforms	O
in	O
the	O
process	O
,	O
dBASE	B-Application
on	O
DOS	B-Device
remained	O
very	O
similar	O
to	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ratliff	O
stated	O
there	O
was	O
a	O
"	O
sort	O
of	O
progression	O
from	O
Retrieve	B-Application
to	O
JPLDIS	O
to	O
my	O
program	O
,	O
which	O
I	O
called	O
Vulcan.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
John	O
Walker	O
,	O
better	O
known	O
for	O
AutoCAD	B-Algorithm
,	O
also	O
used	O
JPLDIS	O
and	O
stated	O
flatly	O
that	O
"	O
DBase	B-Application
II	I-Application
,	O
the	O
Ashton-Tate	O
database	B-Application
system	I-Application
,	O
was	O
a	O
copy	O
,	O
a	O
reimplementation	O
of	O
a	O
package	O
developed	O
at	O
the	O
Jet	O
Propulsion	O
Laboratory	O
called	O
JPLDIS.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
the	O
original	O
dBASE	B-Application
User	O
Manual	O
uses	O
this	O
example	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Which	O
is	O
identical	O
to	O
the	O
instructions	O
in	O
RETRIEVE	B-Application
:	O
</s>
<s>
dBASE	B-Application
's	O
primary	O
differences	O
are	O
related	O
to	O
the	O
programmability	O
;	O
dBASE	B-Application
added	O
variables	O
,	O
could	O
columns	O
made	O
of	O
formulas	O
like	O
,	O
and	O
added	O
a	O
much	O
wider	O
variety	O
of	O
functions	O
to	O
manipulate	O
data	O
,	O
including	O
functions	O
for	O
returning	O
the	O
length	O
of	O
a	O
string	O
or	O
the	O
data	O
type	O
of	O
a	O
given	O
field	O
.	O
</s>
