Tech Report CS-90-31

Constraint Query Languages

Paris C. Kanellakis, Gabriel M. Kuper and Peter Z. Revesz

November 1990

Abstract:

We investigate the relationship between constraint programming and database query languages. We show that bottom-up, efficient, declarative database programming can be combined with efficient constraint solving. The key intuition is that the generalization of a ground fact, or type, is a conjunction of constraints. We propose a set of basic constraint query language design principles and show how they can be realized with four different classes of constraints: polynomial, rational order, equality, and boolean constraints.

(complete text in pdf)