On the Semantics of the Entity-Relationship Data Model.

Y. Edmund Lien: On the Semantics of the Entity-Relationship Data Model. ER 1979: 155-168

@inproceedings{DBLP:conf/er/Lien79,
  author    = {Y. Edmund Lien},
  editor    = {Peter P. Chen},
  title     = {On the Semantics of the Entity-Relationship Data Model},
  booktitle = {Entity-Relationship Approach to Systems Analysis and Design.
                Proc. 1st International Conference on the Entity-Relationship
               Approach},
  publisher = {North-Holland},
  year      = {1979},
  isbn      = {0-444-85487-8},
  pages     = {155-168},
  ee        = {db/conf/er/Lien79.html},
  crossref  = {DBLP:conf/er/79},
  bibsource = {DBLP, http://dblp.uni-trier.de}
}

Abstract

This paper proves the equivalence of two notions: that of navigational and existence semantics in the entity-relationship (ER) model, and that of multivalued dependency in the relational model. Navigational semantics are concerned with access to a database according to prescribed paths in the schema definition, and existence semantics give the dependency of one record on another record during database updates. When an ER database observes its existence dependencies, its access paths can be represented by a universal relation. Hence, data operations on an ER database can be interpreted in terms of relational operations on the corresponding universal relation. This paper gives the meanings of three operations, FIND, INSERT, and DELETE, in the contexts of both the ER model and the relational model. We also show that the universal relation corresponding to an ER database satisfies a set of multivalued dependencies, which can easily be recognized from the graphical representation of the schema.

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References

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[2]: Catriel Beeri, Philip A. Bernstein, Nathan Goodman: A Sophisticate's Introduction to Database Normalization Theory. VLDB 1978: 113-124
[3]: Peter P. Chen: The Entity-Relationship Model - Toward a Unified View of Data. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 1(1): 9-36(1976)
[4]: Peter P. Chen: The entity-relationship model: a basis for the enterprise view of data. AFIPS National Computer Conference 1977: 77-84
[5]: E. F. Codd: A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks. Commun. ACM 13(6): 377-387(1970)
[6]: E. F. Codd: Normalized Data Structure: A Brief Tutorial. SIGFIDET Workshop 1971: 1-17
[7]: C. J. Date: An Introduction to Database Systems, 2nd Edition. Addison-Wesley 1977
[8]: Ronald Fagin: Multivalued Dependencies and a New Normal Form for Relational Databases. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 2(3): 262-278(1977)
[9]: Y. Edmund Lien: Multivalued Dependencies with Null Values in Relational Data Bases. VLDB 1979: 61-66
[10]: ...
[11]: ...
[12]: ...