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Toward Practical Query Evaluation for Constraint Databases

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Constraints and Databases

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Abstract

Linear constraint databases (LCDBs) extend relational databases to include linear arithmetic constraints in both relations and queries. A LCDB can also be viewed as a powerful extension of linear programming (LP) where the system of constraints is generalized to a database containing constraints and the objective function is generalized to a relational query containing constraints. Our major concern is query optimization in LCDBs. Traditional database approaches are not adequate for combination with LP technology. Instead, we propose a new query optimization approach, based on statistical estimations and iterated trials of potentially better evaluation plans. The resulting algorithms are not only effective on LCDBs, but also applicable to existing query languages. A number of specific constraint algebra algorithms are also developed: select-project-join for two relations, constraint sort-join and constraint multi-join.

Much of this research was conducted while the authors were employed at the I.B.M. Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Information and Software Systems Engineering, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Alexander Brodsky

  2. Dept. of Information Systems and Computer Science, National University of Singapore, Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119260

    Joxan Jaffar

  3. School of Computing and Information Technology, Griffith University, Nathan, 4111, Australia

    Michael J. Maher

Authors
  1. Alexander Brodsky
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  2. Joxan Jaffar
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  3. Michael J. Maher
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin, USA

    Raghu Ramakrishnan

  2. University of Melbourne, Australia

    Peter Stuckey

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Brodsky, A., Jaffar, J., Maher, M.J. (1997). Toward Practical Query Evaluation for Constraint Databases. In: Ramakrishnan, R., Stuckey, P. (eds) Constraints and Databases. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5515-5_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5515-5_3

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