Computers: Universe: IntroductionComputers: Universe: IntroductionUniverse is a commercial unix-based pick-derived post-relational multiuser database management system.
Let's take it a bit at a time:
database management system: It's a program which allows users to store, update, and report on large quantities of data.
multiuser: It usually runs on a biggish central computer to which a number of users connect using their PC's or terminals and access data simultaneously.
post-relational: It has a different way of organising data to the ubiquitous 'relational databases' such as, say, Oracle.
pick-derived: It is one of a family of databases based on the original 'Pick' database, designed by the legendary Dick Pick.
unix-based: It was the first and, at time of writing, still the only pick-derived database to run under Unix.
commercial: It's copyrighted by a company called VMark and sold for money.
My first job in IT was as a programmer working with another pick-derived database called Prime INFORMATION, which ran on Prime's own minicomputers. I gradually learnt that Pick was extremely popular with its surprisingly large user base, but little known elsewhere: and consequently Pick programming was something of an esoteric skill to have acquired. At a number of sites I found myself providing consultancy and training to developers familiar with more mainstream technologies where they had taken on responsibility for supporting Pick products.
Life, the Universe, and Everything is a set of notes on Universe I wrote in 1999 while training developers from Electronic Data Systems working at the Cape of Good Hope Bank in Cape Town. They were written rather quickly, and while have reformatted them to suit www.mannyneira.com, I have not otherwise checked or edited them: and indeed no longer have access to either Universe documentation, or a Universe system to play on. They are therefore offered to anyone who might find them either of practical use, or historical interest, but without any promise of accuracy or responsibility for the consequences of inaccuracies. If you find any mistakes, be kind and let me know at mailbox@mannyneira.com
Republishing these notes reminds me that I foolishly allowed myself to lose touch with the old Cape of Good Hope Bank team. If any of them come across this, and feel like getting in touch, I'd love to hear from them too.
Manny Neira, 3rd February 2006
This guide provides an introduction to VMark's UniVerse Database Management System.
It does not aim to provide a detailed reference guide, as the Universe documentation (which is available on-line in 'Acrobat Reader' format) does this extremely well. Rather, it aims to build a conceptual model, a framework of ideas, which should allow you to approach the mass of detail in VMark's manual with greater confidence and understanding.
The guide has been written for developers already experienced in other languages or development environments, and thus assumes a thorough understanding of IT. It also assumes a very basic competence in Unix, sufficient to log in, create a directory, move from one directory to another, and so on: but this is not a strenuous requirement as it would not be difficult to exceed the Unix expertise of the author. It does not assume any knowledge of UniVerse, so should suit both beginners and those who have already spent sufficient time with the product to become confused.
The guide was originally written for my colleagues in the EDS Africa team at the Cape of Good Hope Bank in Cape Town, South Africa: but contains nothing which is relevant only to them. We use UniVerse release 9 on IBM AIX servers, but again, most of the ground covered will be relevant to UniVerse users irrespective of version and platform. What the guide may contain, however, is a certain amount of nonsense: having been prepared quickly and with too much reliance on my memory of working with UniVerse and systems like it. For this, I can only ask tolerance and kindly correction.
Manny Neira, 23rd June 1999