Abstract
Recently there was some attention on integration of description logics of the AL-family with rule-based languages for querying relational databases such as Datalog, so as to achieve the best characteristics of both kinds of formalisms in a common framework. Formal analysis on such hybrid languages has been limited to computational complexity: i.e., how much time/space it is needed to answer to a specific query? This paper carries out a different formal analysis, the one dealing with expressiveness, which gives precise characterization of the concepts definable as queries. We first analyze the applicability to hybrid languages of formal tools developed for characterizing the expressive power of relational query languages. We then present some preliminary results on the expressiveness of hybrid languages. In particular, we show that relatively simple hybrid languages are able to define all finite structures expressed by skolemized universally quantified second-order formulae with some constraints on the quantified predicates.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
S. Abiteboul and V. Virtnn. Expressive power of query languages. In J. D. Ullman, editor, Theoretical Studies in Computer Science. Academic Press, 1992.
Franz Baader. A formal definition for the expressive power of terminological knowledge representation languages. Journal of Logic and Computation, 6:33–54, 1996.
Martin Buchheit, Francesco M. Donini, and Andrea Schaerf. Decidable reasoning in terminological knowledge representation systems. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, 1:109–138, 1993.
P. Bonatti and T. Eiter. Querying disjunctive databases through nonmonotonic logics. Theoretical Computer Science, 160:321–363, 1996.
Alexander Borgida. On the relative expressiveness of description logics and predicate logics. Artificial Intelligence Journal, 82:353–367, 1996.
Diego Calvanese. Finite model reasoning in description logics. In Luigia C. Aiello, John Doyle, and Stuart C. Shapiro, editors, Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Principles of Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KR-9G), pages 292–303. Morgan Kaufmann, Los Altos, 1996.
A. Chandra and D. Harel. Computable queries for relational databases. Journal of Computer and System Sciences, 21:156–178, 1980.
Diego Calvanese and Maurizio Lenzerini. Making object-oriented schemas more expressive. In Proceedings of the Thirteenth ACM SIGACT SIGMOD SIGART Symposium on Principles of Database Systems (PODS-94), pages 243–254, Minneapolis, 1994. ACM Press and Addison Wesley.
S. S. Cosmadakis. Logical reducibility and monadic NP. In Proceedings of the Thirtyfourlh Annual Symposium on the Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS-93), 1993.
Francesco M. Donini, Maurizio Lenzerini, Daniele Nardi, and Andrea Schaerf. A hybrid system integrating Datalog and concept languages. In Proceedings of the Second Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AI*IA-91), number 549 in Lecture Notes In Artificial Intelligence. Springer-Verlag, 1991.
Francesco M. Donini, Maurizio Lenzerini, Daniele Nardi, and Andrea Schaerf. AL-log: Integrating Datalog and description logics. Journal of Intelligent Information Systems, 1997. To appear.
T. Eiter, G. Gottlob, and H. Mannila. Disjunctive Datalog. ACM Transactions on Database Systems, 22:364–418, 1997.
R. Fagin. Generalized First-Order Spectra and Polynomial-Time Recognizable Sets. In R. M. Karp, editor, Complexity of Computation, pages 43–74. AMS, 1974.
Ronald Fagin. Monadic generalized spectra. Zeitschrift für mathematische Logik und Grundlagen der Mathematik, 21:89–96, 1975.
Ronald Fagin. Finite-model theory — a personal perspective. Theoretical Computer Science, 116:3–31, 1993.
P. Kanellakis. Elements of relational database theory. In J. van Leeuwen, editor, Handbook of Theoretical Computer Science, volume B, chapter 17. Elsevier Science Publishers (North-Holland), Amsterdam, 1990.
Alon Y. Levy and Marie-Christine Rousset. CARIN: A representation language combining Horn rules and description logics. In Proceedings of the Twelfth European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI-96), pages 323–327, 1996.
Alon Y. Levy and Marie-Christine Rousset. The limits on combining recursive Horn rules with description logics. In Proceedings of the Thirteenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-96), pages 577–584, 1996.
J.A. Makowsky and Y.B. Puueli. Arity and alternation in second-order logic. Annals of Pure and Applied Logics, 78:189–202, 1996.
Raymond Reiter. Towards a logical reconstruction of, relational database theory. In M. L. Brodie, J. Mylopoulos, and J. W. Schmidt, editors, On Conceptual Modelling. Springer-Verlag, 1984.
J. S. Schlipf. The expressive powers of the logic programming semantics. Journal of Computer and System Sciences, 51:64–86, 1995.
M. Y. Vardi. Querying logical databases. Journal of Computer and System Sciences, 33:142–160, 1986.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Cadoli, M., Palopoli, L., Lenzerini, M. (1998). Datalog and description logics: Expressive power. In: Cluet, S., Hull, R. (eds) Database Programming Languages. DBPL 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1369. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-64823-2_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-64823-2_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-64823-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68534-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive