Lesson plan

Butler SQL

Butler SQL is a now-defunct SQL-based database server for the classic Mac OS released by Canadian developer EveryWare Development in 1992. For much of its history, it was partnered with another EveryWare product, Tango (released 1995), that built dynamic database pages from SQL data. Butler SQL ceased development when Pervasive Software acquired EveryWare in 1998; Tango was sold by Pervasive to Australian firm Witango Technologies in 2001 and renamed to Witango, then subsequently acquired by Tronics Software in 2010 and renamed to TeraScript. Butler was introduced to take advantage of new a Mac OS component known as the Data Access Manager (DAM), which was similar in concept to ODBC, allowing end-user client programs to access various data sources. DAM, however, worked at a lower level than ODBC and did not contain any inherent query language. To address the concern that a single DAM program might want to work with different back-end databases, Apple used a second system known as the Data Access Language (DAL), which was a variant of SQL that included additional flow-control and data manipulation instructions. DAL queries were converted to the target database using an adaptor on the server. Butler was written to natively support DAL as its variant of SQL, and use DAM internally to support networking.…

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Article summary

Butler SQL is a now-defunct SQL-based database server for the classic Mac OS released by Canadian developer EveryWare Development in 1992. For much of its history, it was partnered with another EveryWare product, Tango (released 1995), that built dynamic database pages from SQL data. Butler SQL ceased development when Pervasive Software acquired EveryWare in 1998; Tango was sold by Pervasive to Australian firm Witango Technologies in 2001 and renamed to Witango, then subsequently acquired by Tronics Software in 2010 and renamed to TeraScript. Butler was introduced to take advantage of new a Mac OS component known as the Data Access Manager (DAM), which was similar in concept to ODBC, allowing end-user client programs to access various data sources. DAM, however, worked at a lower level than ODBC and did not contain any inherent query language. To address the concern that a single DAM program might want to work with different back-end databases, Apple used a second system known as the Data Access Language (DAL), which was a variant of SQL that included additional flow-control and data manipulation instructions. DAL queries were converted to the target database using an adaptor on the server. Butler was written to natively support DAL as its variant of SQL, and use DAM internally to support networking.…

Key claims

  1. release date: 1992 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  2. release date: 1995 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95
  3. release date: 1996 — source: Wikipedia · confidence 0.95

Discussion questions

  1. Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
  2. The record states that the release date is "1992". What evidence would count against this claim?
  3. The record states that the release date is "1995". What evidence would count against this claim?
  4. The record states that the release date is "1996". What evidence would count against this claim?
  5. Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
  6. If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?

Bibliography

  1. Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1364846934

Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.