Definition
A relational query language (or query language) is a set of expressions (or programs). The semantics of a query language defines for each of these expressions a corresponding query which is a generic, computable function from finite relation instances to finite relation instances over fixed schemas. A query language is computationally complete (or complete) if it defines all queries.
The genericity condition is a consistency criterion requiring that a query commute with isomorphisms of the database domain. Thus, when applied to isomorphic input relation instances, a query returns isomorphic output relation instances. The concept of genericity is based on the well-accepted idea that the result of a query should be independent of the representation of data in a database and should treat the elements of the database as uninterpreted objects [4]. The computability condition requires that the query can...
Recommended Reading
Abiteboul S, Hull R, Vianu V. Foundations of databases. Reading: Addison-Wesley; 1995.
Abiteboul S, Kanellakis PC. Object identity as a query language primitive. J ACM. 1998;45(5):798–842.
Abiteboul S, Vianu V. Procedural languages for database queries and updates. J Comput Syst Sci. 1990;41(2):181–229.
Aho AV, Ullman JD. Universality of data retrieval languages. In: Proceedings of 6th ACM SIGACT-SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages; 1979. p. 110–20.
Bancilhon F. On the completeness of query languages for relational data bases. In: Proceedings of 7th Symposium on the Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science; 1978. p. 112–23.
Chandra A. Programming primitives for database languages. In: Proceedings of 8th ACM SIGACT-SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages; 1981. p. 50–62.
Chandra A, Harel D. Computable queries for relational data bases. J Comput Syst Sci. 1980;21(2):156–78.
Chandra A, Harel D. Structure and complexity of relational queries. J Comput Syst Sci. 1982;25:99–128.
Codd E. A relational model for large shared databanks. Commun ACM. 1970;13(6):377–87.
Codd E. Relational completeness of data base sublanguages. In: Rustin R, editor. Data base systems. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall; 1972. p. 65–98.
Fagin R. Monadic generalized spectra. Z Math Logik Grundlagen Math. 1975;21:2189–96.
Gyssens M, Van den Bussche J, Van Gucht D. Complete geometric query languages. J Comput Syst Sci. 1999;58(3):483–511.
Paredaens J. On the expressive power of the relational algebra. Inf Process Lett. 1978;7(2):107–11.
Paredaens J. Spatial databases, a new frontier. In: Proceedings of 5th International Conference on Database Theory; 1995. p. 14–32.
Tarski A, Corcoran J. What are logical notions? Hist Philos Logic. 1986;7:154.
Van den Bussche J, Van Gucht D, Andries M, Gyssens M. On the completeness of object-creating database transformation languages. J ACM. 1997;44(2):272–319.
Vardi MY. The complexity of relational query languages. In: Proceedings of 14th Annual ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing; 1982. p. 137–46.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Vianu, V., Van Gucht, D. (2017). Computationally Complete Relational Query Languages. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_1243-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_1243-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-7993-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-7993-3
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering