Chapter 27: Formal-Relational Query

Languages
 Outline

 Tuple Relational Calculus

 Domain Relational Calculus
 Datalog

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.2 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Tuple Relational Calculus

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.3 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Tuple Relational Calculus

 A nonprocedural query language, where each query is of the form

{t | P (t ) }
 It is the set of all tuples t such that predicate P is true for t
 t is a tuple variable
 t [A ] denotes the value of tuple t on attribute A
 t  r denotes that tuple t is in relation r
 P is a formula similar to that of the predicate calculus

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.4 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Predicate Calculus Formula

 Set of attributes and constants

 Set of comparison operators: (e.g., , , , , , )
 Set of connectives: and (), or (v)‚ not ()
 Implication (): x  y, if x if true, then y is true
x  y x v y
 Set of quantifiers:
 t r (Q (t )) ”there exists” a tuple in t in relation r
such that predicate Q (t ) is true
 t r (Q (t )) Q is true “for all” tuples t in relation r

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.5 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries

 Find the ID, name, dept_name, salary for instructors whose salary is
greater than $80,000

{t | t  instructor  t [salary ]  80000}

Notice that a relation on schema (ID, name, dept_name, salary) is implicitly

defined by the query
 As in the previous query, but output only the ID attribute value

{t |  s instructor (t [ID ] = s [ID ]  s [salary ]  80000)}

Notice that a relation on schema (ID) is implicitly defined by the query

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.6 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries

 Find the names of all instructors whose department is in the Watson

building

{t | s  instructor (t [name ] = s [name ]

 u  department (u [dept_name ] = s[dept_name] “
 u [building] = “Watson” ))}
 Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, or in the
Spring 2010 semester, or both

{t | s  section (t [course_id ] = s [course_id ] 

s [semester] = “Fall”  s [year] = 2009
v u  section (t [course_id ] = u [course_id ] 
u [semester] = “Spring”  u [year] = 2010 )}

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.7 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries

 Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, and in
the Spring 2010 semester

{t | s  section (t [course_id ] = s [course_id ] 

s [semester] = “Fall”  s [year] = 2009
 u  section (t [course_id ] = u [course_id ] 
u [semester] = “Spring”  u [year] = 2010 )}

 Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, but not in the Spring
2010 semester

{t | s  section (t [course_id ] = s [course_id ] 

s [semester] = “Fall”  s [year] = 2009
  u  section (t [course_id ] = u [course_id ] 
u [semester] = “Spring”  u [year] = 2010 )}

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.8 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Universal Quantification

 Find all students who have taken all courses offered in the Biology
department
 {t |  r  student (t [ID] = r [ID]) 
( u  course (u [dept_name]=“Biology” 
 s  takes (t [ID] = s [ID ] 
s [course_id] = u [course_id]))}

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.9 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Safety of Expressions

 It is possible to write tuple calculus expressions that generate infinite

relations.
 For example, { t |  t r } results in an infinite relation if the domain of
any attribute of relation r is infinite
 To guard against the problem, we restrict the set of allowable
expressions to safe expressions.
 An expression {t | P (t )} in the tuple relational calculus is safe if every
component of t appears in one of the relations, tuples, or constants that
appear in P
 NOTE: this is more than just a syntax condition.
 E.g., { t | t [A] = 5  true } is not safe --- it defines an infinite set
with attribute values that do not appear in any relation or tuples
or constants in P.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.10 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Safety of Expressions (Cont.)

 Consider again that query to find all students who have taken all courses
offered in the Biology department
 {t |  r  student (t [ID] = r [ID]) 
( u  course (u [dept_name]=“Biology” 
 s  takes (t [ID] = s [ID ] 
s [course_id] = u [course_id]))}
 Without the existential quantification on student, the above query would be
unsafe if the Biology department has not offered any courses.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.11 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Domain Relational Calculus

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.12 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Domain Relational Calculus

 A nonprocedural query language equivalent in power to the tuple

relational calculus
 Each query is an expression of the form:

{  x1, x2, …, xn  | P (x1, x2, …, xn)}

 x1, x2, …, xn represent domain variables

 P represents a formula similar to that of the predicate calculus

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.13 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries

 Find the ID, name, dept_name, salary for instructors whose salary is
greater than $80,000
 {< i, n, d, s> | < i, n, d, s>  instructor  s  80000}
 As in the previous query, but output only the ID attribute value
 {< i> | < i, n, d, s>  instructor  s  80000}
 Find the names of all instructors whose department is in the Watson
building
{< n > |  i, d, s (< i, n, d, s >  instructor
  b, a (< d, b, a>  department  b = “Watson” ))}

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.14 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Example Queries

 Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, or in
the Spring 2010 semester, or both

{<c> |  a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t >  section 

s = “Fall”  y = 2009 )
v  a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t >  section ] 
s = “Spring”  y = 2010)}

This case can also be written as

{<c> |  a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t >  section 
( (s = “Fall”  y = 2009 ) v (s = “Spring”  y = 2010))}

 Find the set of all courses taught in the Fall 2009 semester, and in
the Spring 2010 semester

{<c> |  a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t >  section 

s = “Fall”  y = 2009 )
  a, s, y, b, r, t ( <c, a, s, y, b, r, t >  section ] 
s = “Spring”  y = 2010)}

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.15 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Safety of Expressions

The expression:
{  x1, x2, …, xn  | P (x1, x2, …, xn )}
is safe if all of the following hold:
1. All values that appear in tuples of the expression are values from dom
(P ) (that is, the values appear either in P or in a tuple of a relation
mentioned in P ).
2. For every “there exists” subformula of the form  x (P1(x )), the
subformula is true if and only if there is a value of x in dom (P1) such
that P1(x ) is true.
3. For every “for all” subformula of the form x (P1 (x )), the subformula is
true if and only if P1(x ) is true for all values x from dom (P1).

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.16 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Universal Quantification

 Find all students who have taken all courses offered in the Biology
department
 {< i > |  n, d, tc ( < i, n, d, tc >  student 
( ci, ti, dn, cr ( < ci, ti, dn, cr >  course  dn =“Biology”
  si, se, y, g ( <i, ci, si, se, y, g>  takes ))}
 Note that without the existential quantification on student, the above
query would be unsafe if the Biology department has not offered any
courses.

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.17 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 Datalog

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.18 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan
 End of Chapter 27

Database System Concepts - 7th Edition 27.19 ©Silberschatz, Korth and Sudarshan