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Temporal Query Languages

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Encyclopedia of Database Systems

Synonyms

Historical query languages

Definition

A temporal query language is a database query language that offers some form of built-in support for the querying and modification of time-referenced data, as well as enabling the specification of assertions and constraints on such data. A temporal query language is usually quite closely associated with a temporal data model that defines the underlying data structures to which the language applies.

Historical Background

When the relational data model was proposed by Codd, he also proposed two query languages: the relational calculus and the relational algebra. Similarly, temporal data models are closely coupled with temporal query languages.

Most databases store time-referenced, or temporal, data. The ISO standard Structured Query Language SQL [4] is often the language of choice when developing applications that utilize the information captured in such databases. In spite of this, users realize that temporal data management is often...

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Recommended Reading

  1. Böhlen M.H., Gamper J., and Jensen C.S. How would you like to aggregate your temporal data?. In Proc. 10th Int. Symp. Temporal Representation and Reasoning/4th Int. Conf. Temporal Logic, pp. 121–136.2006, June 15–17,

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  2. Jensen C.S., Soo M.D., and Snodgrass R.T. Unifying temporal data models via a conceptual model. Inf. Syst., 19(7):513–547, December 1994.

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  3. McKenzie E. and Snodgrass R.T. An evaluation of relational algebras incorporating the time dimension in databases. ACM Comput. Surv., 23(4):501–543, December 1991.

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  4. Melton J. and Simon A.R. Understanding the New SQL: A Complete Guide. Morgan Kaufmann, San Mateo, CA, 1993.

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  5. R.T. (ed.). Snodgrass The TSQL2 Temporal Query Language. Kluwer, Boston, MA, USA, 1995.

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  6. Snodgrass R.T. Developing Time-Oriented Database Applications in SQL. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA, USA, 1999.

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  7. Snodgrass R.T. Temporal Object Oriented Databases: A Critical, Comparison, Chapter 19 in Modern Database System: The Object Model, Interoperability and Beyond, W. Kim, editor, Addison-Wesley/ACM Press, 1995, pp. 386–408.

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  8. Böhlen M.H., Jensen C.S., and Snodgrass R.T. Temporal Statement Modifiers, ACM Transactions on Database Sytems, 25(4): 407–456.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Aalborg, Aalborg, Denmark

    Christian S. Jensen

  2. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Richard T. Snodgrass

Authors
  1. Christian S. Jensen
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  2. Richard T. Snodgrass
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 266 Ferst Drive, 30332-0765, Atlanta, GA, USA

    LING LIU (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Database Research Group David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. TAMER ÖZSU (Professor and Director, University Research Chair) (Professor and Director, University Research Chair)

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© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Jensen, C.S., Snodgrass, R.T. (2009). Temporal Query Languages. In: LIU, L., ÖZSU, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-39940-9_407

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