Towards a Real Horn Clause Language.

Ravi Krishnamurthy, Shamim A. Naqvi: Towards a Real Horn Clause Language. VLDB 1988: 252-263

@inproceedings{DBLP:conf/vldb/KrishnamurthyN88,
  author    = {Ravi Krishnamurthy and
               Shamim A. Naqvi},
  editor    = {Fran\c{c}ois Bancilhon and
               David J. DeWitt},
  title     = {Towards a Real Horn Clause Language},
  booktitle = {Fourteenth International Conference on Very Large Data Bases,
               August 29 - September 1, 1988, Los Angeles, California, USA,
               Proceedings},
  publisher = {Morgan Kaufmann},
  year      = {1988},
  isbn      = {0-934613-75-3},
  pages     = {252-263},
  ee        = {db/conf/vldb/KrishnamurthyN88.html},
  crossref  = {DBLP:conf/vldb/88},
  bibsource = {DBLP, http://dblp.uni-trier.de}
}

Abstract

Current database languages based on Horn clauses and the bottom-up model of computation, such as LDL and Datalog, are not as expressive as Prolog. For example, such languages do not support schema and higher-order predicates in an integrated framework but rely on a separate language to specify the schema information and on evaluable predicates for expressing higher-order information. Prolog on the other hand while providing powerful features does so in only a procedural setting. Caught between a rock and hard place we ask whether a Horn clause language can be designed which provides most if not all of the power of Prolog in a declarative framework. In this paper we start with a simple logic programming language in which the central notion is that of an object and an expression. We build upon these simple constructs and show that the resulting language has the power of Datalog and a bottom-up semantics. We then successively increase the expressive power of the language to subsume LDL in the sense that we can support sets, stratified negation, and updates to base relations. Finally, we show that our language can support meta, schema and higher-order constructs in an integrated, consistent and clean framework.

Copyright © 1988 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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Printed Edition

François Bancilhon, David J. DeWitt (Eds.): Fourteenth International Conference on Very Large Data Bases, August 29 - September 1, 1988, Los Angeles, California, USA, Proceedings. Morgan Kaufmann 1988, ISBN 0-934613-75-3

References

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[8]: ...
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