1971-2003: Research Staff Member, IBM Research Division,
San Jose, CA and Yorktown Heights, NY
Summary of Accomplishments
1999-2008: XML Standards
Served as IBM representative on the W3C XML Query
Working Group and as principal editor of specifications for the
XQuery
and XPath-2 languages. With Jonathan Robie and Daniela Florescu, designed the
Quilt language which became the basis for the design of XQuery.
XQuery and XPath-2 became W3C Recommendations on 23 January 2007.
XQuery now has more than 45 implementations and is widely
used in electronic commerce, data integration, and other web-based applications.
1991-1999: Relational Databases, DB2
Conducted database research and transfer of technology
into the DB2 line of relational database products.
Responsible for SQL grammar, design of catalog tables, and function
resolution algorithms. Participated in design of object-relational
functionality for DB2, including abstract data types, SQL-bodied functions,
and table hierarchies. Wrote two successful books on DB2, focusing on
application development.
1980-1990: Document Editing and Formatting
Managed research in advanced desktop publishing. Developed
an interactive document formatting system that was used by the
IBM Systems Journal and offered by IBM as a software product.
Explored research issues including editing of active objects, rule-based
pagination, and WYSIWYG user interfaces. Developed an architecture for a
system of cooperating, specialized editors for text, graphics, images, tables,
and mathematics. Demonstrated feasibility of an editor that supports user
interaction with logical and physical views of a document.
1971-1979: SQL, System R
Co-inventor of SQL, the world's most widely-used database
language. SQL was the first relational database language to be commercially
successful, and the first to take a unified approach to data definition,
manipulation, and control. SQL was adopted as an ANSI and ISO Standard in 1986,
and the Standard was updated in 1992, 1999, and 2003. SQL products have been
implemented by every major database vendor. Also served as one of the managers
of the System R project, which produced the first SQL implementation and
developed much of IBM's relational database technology. System R developed
the world's first cost-based query optimizer and demonstrated that a single
database system can handle both high-volume online transactions and
ad-hoc decision support queries.
Summary of Publications
Two books, two book chapters, two international standards (editor),
three conference tutorials, more than 50 journal and
conference publications, one oral history
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