Abstract
Developing a declarative approach to schema integration in the context of heterogeneous database systems is a major goal of this research. We take a first step toward this goal in this paper, by developing a simple logic called SchemaLog which is syntactically higher-order but has a first-order semantics. SchemaLog can provide for a logical integration of multiple relational databases in a federation of database systems. We develop a fixpoint theory as well as a sound and complete proof theory for the definite clause fragment of SchemaLog and show their equivalence to the model-theoretic semantics. We argue that a uniform framework for schema integration as well as schema evolution is both desirable and possible. We illustrate the simplicity and power of SchemaLog with a variety of applications involving database programming (with schema browsing), schema integration, schema evolution, and cooperative query answering.
This research was supported in part by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Fonds Pour Formation De Chercheurs Et L'Aide Á La Recherche of Quebec.
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Lakshmanan, L.V.S., Sadri, F., Subramanian, I.N. (1993). On the logical foundations of schema integration and evolution in heterogeneous database systems. In: Ceri, S., Tanaka, K., Tsur, S. (eds) Deductive and Object-Oriented Databases. DOOD 1993. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 760. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-57530-8_6
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