dBASE (II, III, IV)

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Stands for: Ashton-Tate's microcomputer database and its programming language, the root of the xBase family

The microcomputer database management system and programming language Ashton-Tate sold from 1980 as dBASE II, the most successful of its day: a database engine, a query system, a forms engine and a language in one package, whose dialect became the xBase family of dBASE III, FoxPro and Clipper.

dBase was one of the first database management systems for microcomputers and the most successful in its day: a core database engine, a query system, a forms engine and a programming language tying them together. It began as Vulcan, which Wayne Ratliff wrote for PTDOS in 1978 in 8080 assembly language to pick football pools, modelled on JPLDIS, a Univac program from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; the CP/M port caught Ashton-Tate's attention in 1980, and the company licensed it, released it as dBASE II at $700 with an unusual guarantee, a crippled trial copy and a sealed full disk returnable within thirty days, and shipped it for the IBM PC in September 1982. By early 1984 it reportedly held 70 per cent of the microcomputer database market with 150,000 copies sold, a catalogue of 700 applications written in its language and more than thirty books teaching it; dBASE III shipped in July 1984 and was ported to Unix and VMS, and by the mid-1980s Ashton-Tate was one of the Big Three with Lotus and Microsoft. The xBase clones, FoxBASE+ and FoxPro, Clipper and others, could not displace it until dBASE IV 1.0 of October 1988 shipped so buggy that users left; within one year Borland bought Ashton-Tate, Microsoft bought Fox Software and Computer Associates bought Nantucket.

What it was. The dBase system included the core database engine, a query system, a forms engine and a programming language that tied all of these components together, and the language is why it mattered beyond its own tables: a dBASE program was a text file of commands over tables stored in .dbf files, a format other software still imports. The interactive dot prompt let a user type commands directly, and the RunTime product of February 1983 let developers distribute applications to customers who did not own the full product. The infobox credits Cecil Wayne Ratliff as developer, dates the first appearance to 1979 and the final release, dBASE 2019, to that year.

Origins. In the late 1960s Fred Thompson at JPL used a Tymshare product named RETRIEVE; Jeb Long wrote JPLDIS for the Univac 1108 in its image; and in 1978 Wayne Ratliff, a Martin Marietta programmer, wrote Vulcan for PTDOS in Intel 8080 assembly, modelled on JPLDIS, to help him pick football pools. The CP/M port caught the attention of George Tate and Hal Lashlee in 1980; they licensed it in 1981 on a one-page agreement with generous royalties and sold it as dBASE II. It cost $700. Customers received a crippled version and a separate sealed disk with the full one, returnable unopened within thirty days, which likely persuaded many to risk the price. The IBM PC port shipped in September 1982, and as hard disks grew the product became one of the first database titles to sell in volume.

The peak. By early 1984 InfoWorld estimated Ashton-Tate to be the world's sixth-largest microcomputer software company on $35 million of 1983 sales; dBASE II reportedly had 70 per cent of the microcomputer database market with more than 150,000 copies sold, the company published a catalogue of more than 700 applications written in the language, and more than thirty books and courses taught it, while other companies produced hundreds of utilities around it. Ratliff's own explanation was that the software was incomplete, with omissions other developers filled, and that the gaps built the ecosystem. PC Magazine wrote that the share would be the envy of Procter & Gamble or General Motors. dBASE III was announced in May and shipped in July 1984, then ported to Unix and VMS; dBASE III Plus was 63 per cent of fiscal 1987 revenue.

The fall. dBASE went 22 months without an update while competitors shipped. dBASE IV 1.0 arrived in October 1988 to good reviews until, by spring 1989, users found the bugs; Ed Esber admitted in August 1989 that it had shipped too early, and 1.1 did not ship until July 1990, by which time many customers had moved to the xBase products, FoxBASE+ and FoxPro, Clipper and others, that implemented the same language better. In the early 1990s xBase was the leading platform for business applications, and within a year the three top firms were bought: Borland purchased Ashton-Tate, Microsoft bought Fox Software and Computer Associates acquired Nantucket. Borland brought out a revised dBASE IV in 1992 described as designed for programmers rather than ordinary users, and the Justice Department required it to end its lawsuit against Fox and allow other companies to use the dBASE/xBase language without the threat of legal action. By the opening decade of this century most of the original xBase products had faded; in 2022 products known as dBase still existed, owned by dBase LLC, and The Register reported the dBase website ceased to operate in 2026.

Why it is on this glossary. Every small business system the author's generation inherited in Brazil in the 1990s, stock, billing, the clinic's patient list, was a dBASE or Clipper application on a NetWare share, and the .dbf file is still the lowest common denominator of data exchange. The Clipper entry tells the compiler's half; the Ashton-Tate, Borland and Nantucket records on the industry timeline carry the companies.

Also known as: dbase ii, dbase iii, dbase iii plus, dbase iv, xbase, dbf, foxpro, ratliff

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