Oracle Database facts for kids
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| Developer(s) | Oracle Corporation |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1979 |
| Stable release |
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| Written in | Assembly language, C, C++ |
| Type | Multi-model database |
| License | Proprietary |
Oracle Database is a powerful computer program that helps store and organize huge amounts of information. Think of it like a super-smart digital filing cabinet for businesses and organizations. It's made by a company called Oracle Corporation.
This database is used for many important tasks. For example, it helps manage online shopping orders (called online transaction processing). It also helps analyze large collections of data to find trends (called data warehousing). Oracle Database can be set up on computers right at a company's office, or it can be used over the internet through "cloud computing."
Oracle Database uses a special computer language called SQL. This language helps people ask the database questions, add new information, or find existing data.
Contents
History of Oracle Database
The story of Oracle Database began in 1977. A man named Larry Ellison and his friends, Bob Miner and Ed Oates, started a company called Software Development Laboratories (SDL). This company later became Oracle Corporation.
They created the very first version of the Oracle software. The name "Oracle" came from a secret project Larry Ellison had worked on before. The CIA was actually Oracle's first customer!
Larry Ellison wanted his database to work well with other big database systems. He aimed for it to be very flexible. By 1985, Oracle was proud to say that programs made for other databases could run on Oracle without changes. This was a big deal because Oracle worked on many different types of computers.
Oracle Database: Versions and Names
Oracle Database has had many different versions over the years. Each new version often gets a special letter at the end of its name. For example, the latest version is Oracle Database 23ai. The "ai" stands for "Artificial Intelligence," showing it has new smart features.
Older versions like Oracle Database 19c, 10g, and 9i had "c," "g," and "i" in their names. These letters stood for "Cloud," "Grid," and "Internet." This shows how the database has changed to work with new technologies.
Interestingly, there was never an Oracle Database version 1. Larry Ellison thought no one would want to buy a "version 1" product. For some versions, Oracle also offers a free "Express Edition" (XE) that people can use.
Here's a look at some of the major Oracle Database releases and what they brought:
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Legend:
Old version
Older version, still maintained
Latest version
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| Oracle Database Version |
Initial Release Version |
Initial Release Date |
Terminal Version |
Marquee Features |
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| Oracle Database 23ai (LTR) | 23.4.0 | On May 2, 2024, Oracle Database 23ai was released on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) as cloud services, including OCI Exadata Database Service, OCI Exadata Database Cloud@Customer, and OCI Base Database Service. It is also available in Always Free Autonomous Database. Oracle Database 23c (previously released in 2023) was renamed to Oracle Database 23ai (23.4) due to the significant additional engineering effort to add features that bring AI capabilities to the data in Oracle Database.
Oracle Database 23c (23.2 and 23.3) was released in 2023: April 2023 (Linux) Oracle Database Free - Developer Release September 2023 Oracle Database on Base Database Service |
AI Vector Search (includes new Vector data type, Vector indexes, and Vector SQL operators/functions), JSON Relational Duality, JSON Schema Validation, Transactional Microservices Support, OKafka, Operational Property Graphs, Support for SQL/PGQ, Schema Privileges, Developer Role, In-database SQL Firewall, TLS 1.3 Support, Integration with Azure Active Directory OAuth2, True Cache for mid-tier caching, Readable Per-PDB Standby, Globally Distributed Database with active-active RAFT-based replication, Real-time SQL Plan Management, Priority Transactions, SQL Syntax Simplification, Schema Annotations, Data Use Case Domains, Column Value Lock-free Reservations | ||
| Oracle Database 21c (IR) | 21.1.0 | December 2020 (cloud)
August 2021 (Linux) |
Blockchain Tables, Multilingual Engine - JavaScript Execution in the Database, Binary JSON Data Type, Per-PDB Data Guard Physical Standby (aka Multitenant Data Guard), Per-PDB GoldenGate Change Capture, Self-Managing In-Memory, In-Memory Hybrid Columnar Scan, In-Memory Vector Joins with SIMD, Sharding Advisor Tool, Property Graph Visualization Studio, Automatic Materialized Views, Automatic Zone Maps, SQL Macros, Gradual Password Rollover | ||
| Oracle Database 19c (LTR) | 19.1.0 // 12.2.0.3 | February 2019 (Exadata)
April 2019 (Linux) |
Active Data Guard DML Redirection, Automatic Index Creation, Real-Time Statistics Maintenance, SQL Queries on Object Stores, In-Memory for IoT Data Streams, Hybrid Partitioned Tables, Automatic SQL Plan Management, SQL Quarantine, Zero-Downtime Grid Infrastructure Patching, Finer-Granularity Supplemental Logging, Automated PDB Relocation | ||
| Oracle Database 18c (IR) | 18.1.0 // 12.2.0.2 | February 2018 (cloud, Exadata)
July 2018 (other) |
18.17.0 January 2022 |
Polymorphic Table Functions, Active Directory Integration, Transparent Application Continuity, Approximate Top-N Query Processing, PDB Snapshot Carousel, Online Merging of Partitions and Subpartitions | |
| Oracle Database 12c Release 2 | 12.2.0.1 March 2017 |
August 2016 (cloud)
March 2017 (on-premises) |
12.2.0.1 March 2017 |
Native Sharding, Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance, Exadata Cloud Service, Cloud at Customer | |
| Oracle Database 12c Release 1 | 12.1.0.1 | July 2013 | 12.1.0.2 July 2014 |
Multitenant architecture, In-Memory Column Store, Native JSON, SQL Pattern Matching, Database Cloud Service | |
| Oracle Database 11g Release 2 | 11.2.0.1 | September 2009 | 11.2.0.4 August 2013 |
Edition-Based Redefinition, Data Redaction, Hybrid Columnar Compression, Cluster File System, Golden Gate Replication, Database Appliance | |
| Oracle Database 11g Release 1 | 11.1.0.6 | September 2007 | 11.1.0.7 September 2008 |
Active Data Guard, Secure Files, Exadata | |
| Oracle Database 10g Release 2 | 10.2.0.1 | July 2005 | 10.2.0.5 April 2010 |
Real Application Testing, Database Vault, Online Indexing, Advanced Compression, Data Guard Fast-Start Failover, Transparent Data Encryption | |
| Oracle Database 10g Release 1 | 10.1.0.2 | 2003 | 10.1.0.5 February 2006 |
Automated Database Management, Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor, Grid infrastructure, Oracle ASM, Flashback Database | |
| Oracle9i Database Release 2 | 9.2.0.1 | 2002 | 9.2.0.8 April 2007 |
Advanced Queuing, Data Mining, Streams, Logical Standby | |
| Oracle9i Database | 9.0.1.0 | 2001 | 9.0.1.5 December 2003 |
Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Oracle XML DB | |
| Oracle8i Database | 8.1.5.0 | 1998 | 8.1.7.4 August 2000 |
Native internet protocols and Java, Virtual Private Database | |
| Oracle8 Database | 8.0.3 | June 1997 | 8.0.6 | Recovery Manager, Partitioning. First version available for Linux. | |
| Oracle 7.3 | 7.3.0 | February 1996 | 7.3.4 | Object-relational database | |
| Oracle 7.2 | 7.2.0 | May 1995 | Shared Server, XA Transactions, Transparent Application Failover | ||
| Oracle 7.1 | 7.1.0 | May 1994 | Parallel SQL Execution. First version available for Windows NT. | ||
| Oracle7 | 7.0.12 | June 1992 | Distributed 2-phase commit, PL/SQL stored procedures, triggers, shared cursors, cost-based optimizer | ||
| Oracle 6.2 | 6.2.0 | Oracle Parallel Server | |||
| Oracle v6 | 6.0.17 | 1988 | 6.0.37 | Row-level locking, SMP scalability / performance, storing of undo in database, online backup and recovery, B*Tree indexes, PL/SQL executed from compiled programs (C etc.). First version available for Novell Netware 386. | |
| Oracle v5 | 5.0.22 (5.1.17) | 1985 | 5.1.22 | C2 security certification. Support for distributed database systems and client/server computing. First version available for OS/2. Correlated sub-queries. DOS version supports extended memory. | |
| Oracle v4 | 4.1.4.0 | 1984 | 4.1.4.4 | Multiversion read consistency. Halloween Problem solved. Improved concurrency. First version available for MS-DOS and IBM mainframe. | |
| Oracle v3 | 3.1.3 | 1983 | Concurrency control, data distribution, and scalability. Re-written in C for portability to other operating systems, including UNIX. | ||
| Oracle v2 | 2.3 | 1979 | First commercially available SQL RDBMS. Basic SQL queries, simple joins and CONNECT BY joins. Atomic role-level SQL statements. Rudimentary concurrency control and database integrity. No query optimizer. Written in assembly language for the PDP-11 to run in 128KB of RAM. Ran on PDP-11 and VAX/VMS in PDP-11 compatibility mode. |
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Legend:
Old version
Older version, still maintained
Latest version
|
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You can find more about the history of Oracle Database and its key features in the Introduction to Oracle Database document.
How Oracle Database Stays Secure
Oracle Corporation regularly releases updates for its database. These updates help fix any problems and make the database more secure. They also add new features to keep the database working well.
Who Oracle Database Competes With
Oracle Database is a very popular product, but it has many competitors. Other big companies like IBM Db2 and Microsoft SQL Server also make databases. Oracle and IBM often compete for customers using Unix and Linux computers. Microsoft is very strong with databases for Windows computers.
Even though they compete, these companies often work together. For example, IBM's hardware teams work with Oracle to make sure their servers run Oracle Database very fast.
In the world of cloud computing, Oracle Database competes with services from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
More and more, Oracle also competes with "open-source" databases. These are databases that are free to use and share, like PostgreSQL and MongoDB. Oracle has even bought companies that make open-source database parts, like InnoDB (used in MySQL), to stay competitive.
Learn More About Databases
- Comparison of relational database management systems
- Database management system
- List of relational database management systems
- Oracle SQL Developer
See also
In Spanish: Oracle Database para niños
