[smackeyacky]

Actually, relational databases are the relative newcomers. The limitations of things like CODASYL were well known to 1960s programmers and Codd's relational model sought to address them.

Why the non-relational databases keep getting reinvented has been a bit of a mystery when there is already a rich history of development to look to. I get the feeling a lot of the industry isn't much into history, especially of pre-micro computer systems.

Network databases, key-value stores, graph databases, commercial offerings like Pick... you'd think the NoSQL people would have looked into it all before proclaiming their new found solutions, but apparently not.

[scns]

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." - Sir Winston Churchill

He is paraphrasing: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905.

That inspired René Magritte to paint this: https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/those-who-cannot-remember...

Making the connection to events in our lifetime: https://hankeringforhistory.com/those-who-cannot-remember-th...

(edit) Some more reflections on it: https://blog.rtcx.net/remember