I read Jim Starkey's and Ann Harrison's historical documents to find
the meaning of the ``gds'' suffix: Groton [MA] Database Systems. That
prompts a few more questions (maybe FAQ-worthy):

1). I take it that's the origin of the 'g' prefix to commands such as
``gbak'', ``gstat'' and so on. Correct?

2). What's the derivation of the equally-ubiquitous ``isc''?

3). There's a static archive library file file in Interbase,
``libgds_pyxis.a''. What's this for?

4). In the native C API, what was the design rationale for using raw
memory blocks for such things as the ``database parameter block'' and
the various ``isc_info_*'' functions? These are essentially free-form
regions of memory as opposed to fixed structures.

4). The ISC_STATUS_ARRAY type allocates an array of 20 longs. Is there
really any function call that can yield up to 19 error results?

5). What's the background for lengthy error strings such as
``Unsuccessful execution caused by a system error that precludes
successful execution of subsequent statements''. Was this a DEC-ism?
(I contrast this with the terse error strings in a *nix culture).

None of these are problems -- just points of curiosity.