Abstract
The problem of expressing complex queries in a friendly way is particularly relevant due to the growing diffusion of databases. However, the most significant proposals for extending the expressive power of the relational query languages are based on the logical paradigm. In particular, an extension of the Horn clause queries, i.e. the so-called stratified Datalog, yields stratified queries, that are a proper subset of fixpoint queries. It is a general opinion that logic is not a friendly interfacing medium for a casual user. As a consequence, other types of query languages, i.e. visual query languages, have been proposed, some of them having an expressive power higher than the relational algebra. Up to now, no visual query language has been proved to provide the expressive power of stratified Datalog. In this paper, we present QBD**, a visual query language, and show that it is able to express all stratified queries.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Aho A.V., Ullman J.D. Universality of Data Retrieval Language. In: Proc. of the 6th ACM SIGACT-SIPLAN Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages, 1979, pp. 110 - 120.
Angelaccio, M. Catarci T., Santucci G. QBD*: A Graphical Query Language with Recursion IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 1990, 16, 10: 1150 - 1163.
Angelaccio, M. Catarci T., Santucci G. QBD*: A Fully Visual Query System. Journal on Visual Languages and Computing, 1990, 1, 2: 255 - 273.
Bancilhon F., Ramakrishnan R. An Amateurs Introduction to Recursive Query Processing Strategies. In: Proc. of the 1986 ACM-SIGMOD Conference on the Management of Data, 1986.
Batini C., Catarci T., Costabile, M.F. Levialdi S. Visual Query Systems. Technical Report N.04. 91, Dipartimento di Informatica e Sistemistica, Università di Roma La Sapienza, 1991.
Catarci T. On the Expressive Power of Graphical Query Languages. In: Proc. of the 2nd IFIP W.G. 2. 6 Working Conference on Visual Databases, North-Holland, 1991, pp. 411 - 421.
Catarci T., Cruz I.F. On Expressing Stratified Datalog. In: Proc. of the ICLP94 (International Conference on Logic Programming) Workshop on Deductive Databases And Logic Programming, 1994.
Chandra A.K. Theory of Database Queries. In: Proc. Symp. Principles of Database Systems, 1988.
Chandra A.K., Harel D. Horn Clause Queries and Generalizations. Journal of Logic Programming, 1985, 1, 1: 1 - 15.
Chen P.P. The Entity-Relationship Model toward a Unified View of Data. ACM Transactions on Data Base Systems, 1976, 1, 1.
Codd E. F. A Relational Model for Large Shared Data Banks. Communication of the ACM, 1970, 13, 6.
Codd E.F. Relational completeness of database sub-languages. In: R.Rustin (ed.): Data Base Systems, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1972, pp. 65 - 98.
Consens M., Mendelzon A.O. Graphlog: A Visual Formalism for Real Life Recursion. In: Proc. of the ACM Symp. on Principles of Database Systems, 1990, pp. 404 - 416.
Cook S.A. A taxonomy of problems with fast parallel algorithms. Information and Control, 1985, 64: 2 - 22.
Cruz I.F. DOODLE: A Visual Language for Object-Oriented Databases. In: Proc. of the ACM SIGMOD Conf. on Management of Data, 1992.
Cruzl.F., Mendelzon A.O., Wood P.T. G+: Recursive Queries Without Recursion. In: Proc. of the 2nd International Conference on Expert Database Systems, 1988, pp. 355 - 368.
Gallaire H., Minker J., Nicolas J.M. Logic and Databases: A Deductive Approach. ACM Computing Surveys, 1984, 16, 2: 153 - 185.
Henschen L.J., Naqvi S.A. On compiling Queries in Recursive First-order Databases. Journal of the ACM, 1984, 31, 1: 47 - 85.
Ioannidis Y.I., Wong E. Towards an Algebraic theory of Recursion. Journal of the ACM, 1991, 38, 2: 329 - 381.
Kanellakis P.C. Elements of Relational Theory. In: J.van Leuween (ed.): Handbook of Theoretical Computer Science, Elsevier Science Pub, 1990.
Kolaitis P.J. The Expressive Power of Stratified Logic Programs. Information and Computation, 1991, 50 - 66.
Paredaens J., Peelman P., Tanca L. G-Log: A Declarative Graphical Query Language. In: Proc. of the Second International Conference DOOD'91, 1991, pp. 108 - 128.
Rundensteiner E.A., Bic L. Set Operations in Object-Based Data Models. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, 1992, 4, 4: 382 - 398.
Santucci G., Sottile P. A. Query By Diagram: a Visual Environment for Querying Databases. Software Practice and Experience, 1993, 23, 3.
Sippu S., Soisalon-Soininen E. A Generalized Transitive Closure for Relational Queries. In: Proc. of the International Conference on Principle of Database Systems, 1988.
Shneiderman B. Direct Manipulation: A Step beyond Programming Languages. IEEE Computer, 1983, 16: 57 - 69.
Ullman J.D. Principles of Database and Knowledge-Base Systems, vol. I. Computer Science Press, Rockville, MD, 1988.
Zhang W., Yu C.T., Troy D. Necessary and Sufficient Conditions to Linearize Doubly Recursive Programs in Logic Databases. ACM Transactions on Database Systems, 1990, 15, 3: 459 - 482.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1995 Springer-Verlag London
About this paper
Cite this paper
Catarci, T., Santucci, G. (1995). A Visual Approach to Multilinear Recursion. In: Sawyer, P. (eds) Interfaces to Database Systems (IDS94). Workshops in Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3818-1_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3818-1_4
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-19910-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3818-1
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive