Constraint Databases: Promising Technology or Just IntellectualExercise?

  • Authors:

  • Alexander Brodsky

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Information and Software Systems Engineering School of Information Technology and Engineering George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030-4444. e-mail: brodsky@isse.gmu.edu

  • Venue:
  • Constraints
  • Year:
  • 1997

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

This paper describes the state of Constraint Databases(CDBs), a young discipline at the intersection of Database Management,Constraint Programming, Computational Geometry and OperationsResearch. As in Constraint Logic Programming, constraints inCDBs are a first class data type, and can play many modelingroles including spatial and temporal behavior, complex designrequirements, and partial and incomplete information, for whichexisting databases have proven inadequate. We motivate the importanceof CDBs, outline the work in the area that has been done, thecurrent trends, and future directions and challenges. We brieflydiscuss (1) constraint modeling, canonical forms and algebras,(2) data models and query languages, (3) indexing and approximation-basedfiltering, (4) constraint algebra algorithms and global optimization,and (5) systems and case studies. We argue that CDBs are a promisingtechnology that will impact many important application realms,and furthermore have the potential to be integrated into futuredatabase systems, and operations research and constraint programmingtools.