Semantically Correct Query Answers in the Presence of Null Values

For several reasons a database may not satisfy a given set of integrity constraints (ICs), but most likely most of the information in it is still consistent with those ICs; and could be retrieved when queries are answered. Consistent answers to queries wrt a set of ICs have been characterized as answers that can be obtained from every possible minimally repaired consistent version of the original database. In this paper we consider databases that contain null values and are also repaired, if necessary, using null values. For this purpose, we propose first a precise semantics for IC satisfaction in a database with null values that is compatible with the way null values are treated in commercial database management systems. Next, a precise notion of repair is introduced that

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: EDBTW
• Authors: Loreto Bravo, Leopoldo E. Bertossi
• Keywords: Database, EDBTW 2006, Null Values, Software Engineering, Way Null Values