All three previous editions had an introductory chapter called “The Roots” that included some of the fields most seminal papers. How could you eliminate that material from this edition?!
This was a difficult decision for two reasons. First, the well-educated database researcher should have an intimate familiarity with this work because it shaped the field and continues to frame much of the discussion. Second, it is educational for researchers today to read these original papers and attempt to enter the mindset of the researchers working on the early systems, especially to see how they wrestled with the as-yet unformed structure of the design space. (The INGRES papers are especially nice in that regard.) Unfortunately, I found that teaching these papers — especially as the first papers in the class — was a turnoff for many of today’s students. It is fairly difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff in these papers on first reading, and they do not give students a good sense of the structure of the field that emerged from this work. Our new introductory chapter attempts to better set the stage of the field, and put the remaining papers into context. We encourage se
