Abstract :
In the history of computing\´s early years, scholarship on the history of software lagged behind that of the history of computer hardware. This happened even though descriptions of how to program—or adjust, in that time\´s parlance—computing devices was essential even before the first computers. This Annals special issue is the fifth in a series of issues dedicated to the history of software. For the first four issues—"The Start of the Software Products Industry" (vol. 24, no. 1, 2002), "PC Software: Word Processing for Everyone" (vol. 28, no. 4, 2006), "PC Software: Spreadsheets for Everyone" (vol. 29, no. 3, 2007), and "Mainframe Software: Database Management Systems" (vol. 31, no. 4, 2009)—Burton Grad and Luanne Johnson served as guest editors. This special issue on "Relational Database Management Systems: The Formative Years" is the first in a two-part focus on RDBMSs.
