DATATRIEVE

DATATRIEVE is a database query and report writer tool that runs on OpenVMS operating system as well as several PDP-11 operating systems. Its command structure is nearly plain English, and it is an early example of a Fourth Generation Language (4GL). It works against flat files, indexed files, and databases and uses record definitions stored in the Common Data Dictionary (CDD) or in RMS files to delimit the data in those files. Still used at many OpenVMS installations. DATATRIEVE is a Trademark of Hewlett-Packard.

DATATRIEVE was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by a team of software engineers at DEC's Central Commercial Engineering facilities in Merrimack and Nashua, New Hampshire, under database architect Jim Starkey. Many of the project's engineers went on to highly visible careers in database management and other software disciplines.

DATATRIEVE adopted the wombat as its notional mascot; the program's help file responded to “HELP WOMBAT” with factual information about real world wombats.

External links

• The DATATRIEVE Programmer
• Datatrieve and Wombats