A Query Language for Multidimensional Arrays: Design, Implementation, and Optimization Techniques

While much recent research has focussed on extending databases beyond the traditional relational model, relatively little has been done to develop database tools for querying data organized in (multidimensional) arrays. The scienti c computing community has made little use of available database technology. Instead, multidimensional scienti c data is typically stored in local les conforming to various data exchange formats and queried via specialized access libraries tied in to general purpose programming languages. To allow such data to be queried using known database techniques, we design and implement a query language for multidimensional arrays. Our main design decision is to treat arrays as functions from index sets to values rather than as collection types. This leads to clean syntax and semantics as well as simple but powerful optimization rules. We present a calculus for arrays that extends standard calculi for complex objects. We derive a higher-level comprehension style query...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1996
• Where: SIGMOD
• Authors: Leonid Libkin, Rona Machlin, Limsoon Wong
• Keywords: Data Exchange Format, Database, Multidimensional Arrays, Query Language, SIGMOD 1996