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A point-based temporal extension of SQL

  • Extending DBMS Features
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Deductive and Object-Oriented Databases (DOOD 1997)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1341))

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Abstract

We propose a new approach to temporal extensions of SQL. Unlike the current proposals, e.g., SQL/Temporal, we use point-based references to time as the basis of our approach. The proposed language—SQL/TP—extends the syntax and semantics of SQL/92 in a very natural way: by adding a single data type to represent a linearly ordered universe of individual time instants. Such an extension allows the users to write temporal queries in customary fashion and vastly simplifies the semantics of the proposed language: we merely use the familiar SQL semantics. In this way SQL/TP also fixes many problems present in the semantics of the temporal query languages based on explicit interval-valued temporal attributes. In addition, we propose an efficient query evaluation procedure over a compact interval-based encoding of temporal relations. The algorithm is based on a sophisticated compilation technique that translates SQL/TP queries to SQL/92. In this way existing database systems can be used for managing temporal data. We substantiate this claim by proposing an experimental version of a SQL/TP compiler to serve as a front-end for DB21 [13].

This research was supported by a NATO/NSERC PDF fellowship, 1996-98.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, M5S 1A4, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    David Toman

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  1. David Toman
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François Bry Raghu Ramakrishnan Kotagiri Ramamohanarao

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Toman, D. (1997). A point-based temporal extension of SQL. In: Bry, F., Ramakrishnan, R., Ramamohanarao, K. (eds) Deductive and Object-Oriented Databases. DOOD 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1341. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-63792-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-63792-3_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-63792-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69647-6

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