Universal Query Language for Unified State Model

Issue title: Dedicated to the Memory of Professor Manfred Kudlek

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Wiśniewski, Piotr | Stencel, Krzysztof

Affiliations: Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland. pikonrad@mat.umk.pl | Institute of Informatics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland. stencel@mimuw.edu.pl

Note: [] Address for correspondence: Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Nicolaus Copernicus University, ul. Chopina 12/18, 87-100 Toruń, Poland

Abstract: Unified State Model (USM) is a single data model that allows conveying objects of major programming languages and databases. USM exploits and emphasizes common properties of their data models. USM is equipped with mappings from these data models onto it. With USM at hand, we have faced the next natural research question whether numerous query languages for the data subsumed by USM can be clearly mapped onto a common language. We have designed and proposed such a language called the Unified Query Language (UQL). UQL is intended to be a minimalistic and elegant query language that allows expressing queries of languages of data models covered by USM. In this paper we define UQL and its concise set of operators. Next we conduct a mild introduction into UQL features by showing examples of SQL and ODMG OQL queries and their mapping onto UQL. We conclude by presenting the mapping of the theoretical foundations of these two major query languages onto UQL. They are the multiset relational algebra and the object query algebra. This is an important step towards the establishment of a fully-fledged common query language for USM and its subsumed data models.

DOI: 10.3233/FI-2014-968

Journal: Fundamenta Informaticae, vol. 129, no. 1-2, pp. 177-192, 2014