List of Computer Term Etymologies - O

O

• OLIVER - CICS interactive test/debug software.

The name of this online interactive software - that prevented CICS system abends caused by applications programs - did not originate from "Online Verification" or similar. It was the name of the author's son Oliver.

• Oracle — a relational database management system (RDBMS).

Larry Ellison, Ed Oates and Bob Miner were working on a consulting project for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project was called Oracle (the CIA evidently saw this as a system that would give answers to all questions). The project was designed to use the newly written SQL database language from IBM. The project eventually was terminated but they decided to finish what they started and bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and created the RDBMS engine.