V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (February 2016):

SQL
       Structured Query Language (ISO 9075, DB, 4GL)


The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):

SQL
Structured Query Language

    /S Q L/ An industry-standard
   language for creating, updating and, querying relational
   database management systems.

   SQL was developed by IBM in the 1970s for use in System R.
   It is the de facto standard as well as being an ISO and
   ANSI standard.  It is often embedded in general purpose
   programming languages.

   The first SQL standard, in 1986, provided basic language
   constructs for defining and manipulating tables of data; a
   revision in 1989 added language extensions for referential
   integrity and generalised integrity constraints.  Another
   revision in 1992 provided facilities for schema manipulation
   and data administration, as well as substantial enhancements
   for data definition and data manipulation.

   Development is currently underway to enhance SQL into a
   computationally complete language for the definition and
   management of persistent, complex objects.  This includes:
   generalisation and specialisation hierarchies, multiple
   inheritance, user defined data types, triggers and
   assertions, support for knowledge based systems,
   recursive query expressions, and additional data
   administration tools.  It also includes the specification of
   abstract data types (ADTs), object identifiers, methods,
   inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation, and all of the
   other facilities normally associated with object data
   management.

   The emerging SQL3 standard is expected to be complete in
   1998.

   According to Allen G. Taylor, SQL does __not__ stand for
   "Structured Query Language".  That, like "SEQUEL" (and its
   pronunciation /see'kw*l/), was just another unofficial name
   for a precursor of SQL.  However, the IBM SQL Reference manual
   for DB2 and Craig Mullins's "DB2 Developer's Guide" say SQL
   __does__ stand for "Structured Query Language".

   SQL Standards (http://jcc.com/sql_stnd.html).

   An SQL parser
   (ftp://ftp.ora.com/published/oreilly/nutshell/lexyacc/) is
   described in "Lex & Yacc", by Levine, Mason & Brown published
   by O'Reilly.

   The 1995 SQL Reunion: People, Projects, and Politics
   (http://mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/).

   ["A Guide to the SQL Standard", C.J. Date, A-W 1987].

   ["SQL for Dummies", Allen G. Taylor, IDG Books Worldwide].

   (2005-11-17)