The Singular Success of SQL

SQL has been singularly successful in its impact on the database industry. Nothing has come remotely close to its ubiquity. Its success comes from its high-level use of relational algebra allowing set-oriented operations on data shaped as rows, columns, cells, and tables.

SQL's impact can be seen in two broad areas. First, the programmer can accomplish a lot very easily with set-oriented operations. Second, the high-level expression of the programmer's intent has empowered huge performance gains.