Interactive support for non-programmers: The relational and network approaches

The objectives and strategies of the relational and network approaches are compared. The status of support for non-programming users is examined. General purpose support for such users entails provision of an augmented relationally complete retrieval capability without branching, explicit iteration, or cursors. It is clear how this capability can be realized with the relational approach—whether with a formal or informal language interface. It is not at all clear how the network approach can reach this goal, so long as the principal schema includes owner-coupled sets “bearing information essentially”. A relational discipline is suggested as a way out for DBTG users.

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