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The Boyce-Codd-Heath Normal Form for SQL

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Logic, Language, Information and Computation (WoLLIC 2011)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 6642))

Abstract

In the relational model of data the Boyce-Codd-Heath normal form, commonly just known as Boyce-Codd normal form, guarantees the elimination of data redundancy in terms of functional dependencies. For efficient means of data processing the industry standard SQL permits partial data and duplicate rows of data to occur in database systems. Consequently, the combined class of uniqueness constraints and functional dependencies is more expressive than the class of functional dependencies itself. Hence, the Boyce-Codd-Heath normal form is not suitable for SQL databases. We characterize the associated implication problem of the combined class in the presence of NOT NULL constraints axiomatically, algorithmically and logically. Based on these results we are able to establish a suitable normal form for SQL.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

    Flavio Ferrarotti & Sebastian Link

  2. Institut für Informatik, Technische Universität Clausthal, Germany

    Sven Hartmann

  3. School of Information Technology & Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Australia

    Henning Köhler

  4. School of Computer and Information Science, University of South Australia, Australia

    Millist Vincent

Authors
  1. Flavio Ferrarotti
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  2. Sven Hartmann
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  3. Henning Köhler
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  4. Millist Vincent
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Steklov Mathematical Institute, Gubkina 8, 117966, Moscow, Russia

    Lev D. Beklemishev

  2. Centro de Informática, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Avenida Prof Luis Freire s/n, Cidade Universitária, 50740-540, Recife, PE, Brazil

    Ruy de Queiroz

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Ferrarotti, F., Hartmann, S., Köhler, H., Link, S., Vincent, M. (2011). The Boyce-Codd-Heath Normal Form for SQL. In: Beklemishev, L.D., de Queiroz, R. (eds) Logic, Language, Information and Computation. WoLLIC 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 6642. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20920-8_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-20920-8_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-20919-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-20920-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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