Completeness Information and Its Application to Query Processing.

Amihai Motro: Completeness Information and Its Application to Query Processing. VLDB 1986: 170-178

@inproceedings{DBLP:conf/vldb/Motro86,
  author    = {Amihai Motro},
  editor    = {Wesley W. Chu and
               Georges Gardarin and
               Setsuo Ohsuga and
               Yahiko Kambayashi},
  title     = {Completeness Information and Its Application to Query Processing},
  booktitle = {VLDB'86 Twelfth International Conference on Very Large Data Bases,
               August 25-28, 1986, Kyoto, Japan, Proceedings},
  publisher = {Morgan Kaufmann},
  year      = {1986},
  isbn      = {0-934613-18-4},
  pages     = {170-178},
  ee        = {db/conf/vldb/Motro86.html},
  crossref  = {DBLP:conf/vldb/86},
  bibsource = {DBLP, http://dblp.uni-trier.de}
}

Abstract

The assumption that a database includes a representation of every occurrence in the real world environment that it models (the Closed World Assumption) is frequently unrealistic, because it is always made on the database as a whole. This paper introduces a new type of database information, called completeness information, to dcscribe the subsets of the database for which this assumption is correct. With completeness information it is possible to determine whether each answer to a user query is complete, or whether any subsets of it are complete. To users, answers which are accompanied by a statement about their completeness are more meaningful. First, the principles of completeness information are defined formally, using an abstract data model. Then, specific methods are described for implementing completeness information in the relational model. With these methods, each relational algebra query can be accompanied with an instantaneous verdict on its completeness (or on the completeness of some of its subsets).

Copyright © 1986 by the VLDB Endowment. Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the VLDB copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by the permission of the Very Large Data Base Endowment. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or special permission from the Endowment.

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Wesley W. Chu, Georges Gardarin, Setsuo Ohsuga, Yahiko Kambayashi (Eds.): VLDB'86 Twelfth International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, August 25-28, 1986, Kyoto, Japan, Proceedings. Morgan Kaufmann 1986, ISBN 0-934613-18-4
Contents

References

[1]: David Maier: The Theory of Relational Databases. Computer Science Press 1983, ISBN 0-914894-42-0
Contents
[2]: Amihai Motro: Query Generalization: A Method for Interpreting Null Answers. Expert Database Workshop 1984: 597-616
[3]: ...
[4]: Jeffrey D. Ullman: Principles of Database Systems, 2nd Edition. Computer Science Press 1982, ISBN 0-914894-36-6
[5]: Moshé M. Zloof: Query-by-Example: A Data Base Language. IBM Systems Journal 16(4): 324-343(1977)