Databases, Types and the Relational Model / Edition 3

Databases

Databases, Types, and the Relational Model: The Third Manifesto

C. J. Date

Hugh Darwen

Databases, Types, and the Relational Model: The Third Manifesto is a proposal for the future direction of data and database management systems (DBMSs). It provides a precise, formal definition of an abstract model of data, to be considered as a foundation for the design of a DBMS and a database language.

The proposed foundation represents an evolutionary step, not a revolutionary one; it builds on Ted Codd's relational model of data and on the research that sprang from Codd's work. It also incorporates a precise and comprehensive specification for a method of defining data types, including a comprehensive model of type inheritance based on specialization by constraint (as opposed to the “extension” method of subtyping found in object-oriented languages). Thus, it not only redefines the relational model in modern terms and clarifies it where clarification seemed necessary, but also addresses the orthogonal issue of the data types on whose existence the relational model depends. It is therefore offered as a firm foundation for the DBMSs of the future and is essential reading for database students and professionals alike.

New to the Third Edition

• Introductory overview of the relational model and the type theory espoused in the Manifesto, to make the book more suitable for educational purposes and more self-contained
• A comprehensive set of exercises, with solutions available online for instructors
• Improvements to Tutorial D, the language used throughout the book for illustrative purposes (at least one implementation of this language, Rel, is now freely available for teaching purposes)
• All SQL discussions upgraded to the level of the current standard SQL:2003
• A supporting Web site: www.thethirdmanifesto.com
• An extensive set of appendixes, including one on the still controversial subject of view updating

Hugh Darwen was employed in IBM's software development divisions from 1967 to 2004. In the early part of his career, he was involved in DBMS development, and during the period 1978-1982, he was one of the chief architects of an IBM product called Business System 12, a product that faithfully embraced the principles of the relational model. He has been an active participant in the development of SQL international standards since 1988. He is a lecturer and course development consultant at Warwick University and the Open University, both in the U.K.

C.J. Date is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant specializing in relational database systems. He was one of the first to recognize the fundamental importance of Codd's pioneering work on the relational model. He was also involved in technical planning for the IBM products, SQL/DS and DB2. Date is best known for his books, in particular An Introduction to Database Systems, Eighth Edition (Addison-Wesley, 2004), the standard text in the field, which has sold nearly three quarters of a million copies worldwide.