Bachman compared the Ptolemaic-to-Copernican change in astronomy to the change in computer programming in the early 1970s. When Bachman made the comparison in 1973, data processing was changing from a computer-centered view of information systems to a database-centered view. Bachman pointed out that the ancients of data processing wanted to view all data as a sequential stream of cards flowing through a computer (the computer-centered view). The change was to focus on a pool of data on which the computer happened to act (a database-oriented view).
Today it's difficult to imagine anyone thinking that the sun revolves around the Earth. Similarly, it's difficuly to imagine a programmer thinking that all data could be viewed as a sequential stream of cards.
Steve McConnell, Code Complete 2, 2004