A Database Interface for Complex Objects

Holsheimer, Marcel and By de, Rolf A. and Ait-Kaci, Hassan (1994) A Database Interface for Complex Objects. In: 11th International Conference on Logic Programming, ICLP 1994, 13-18 June 1994, Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy.

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Abstract:	We describe a formal design for a logical query language using psi-terms as data structures to interact effectively and efficiently with a relational database. The structure of psi-terms provides an adequate representation for so-called complex objects. They generalize conventional terms used in logic programming: they are sorted attributed structures, ordered thanks to a subsort ordering. Unification of psi-terms is an effective means for integrating multiple inheritance and partial information into a deduction process. We define a compact database representation for psi-terms, representing part of the subsorting relation in the database as well. We describe a retrieval algorithm based on an abstract interpretation of the psi-term unification process and prove its formal correctness. This algorithm is efficient in that it incrementally retrieves only additional facts that are actually needed by a query, and never retrieves the same fact twice.
Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item
Copyright:	© 1994 ACM
Faculty:	Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS)
Research Group:	Databases (DB)
Link to this item:	http://purl.utwente.nl/publications/66446
Official URL:	http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=189883.189921
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