Abstract
We describe a functional database language OR-SML for handling disjunctive information in database queries, and its implementation on top of Standard ML [12]. The core language has the power of the nested relational algebra, augmented by or-sets which are used to deal with disjunctive information. Sets, or-sets and tuples can be freely combined to create objects, which gives the language a greater flexibility. It is configurable by user-defined base types, and can be used independently or interfaced to other systems built in ML. We give examples of queries which require disjunctive information (such as querying incomplete or independent databases) and show how to use the language to answer these queries.
Partial support was provided by NSF Grant IRI-90-04137 and AT&T Doctoral Fellowship, while this author was a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Gunter, E., Libkin, L. (1994). OR-SML: A functional database programming language for disjunctive information and its applications. In: Karagiannis, D. (eds) Database and Expert Systems Applications. DEXA 1994. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 856. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58435-8_230
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58435-8_230
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