Foundation Matters

Publisher Summary The foundation of the database field is the relational model. This chapter shows that the relational model is a necessary and sufficient foundation on which to build “object/relational” DBMSs. The chapter also points out certain blunders that can unfortunately be observed in some of today's products. It explores the idea that a relational database, along with the relational operators, is really a logical system and shows how that idea leads to a solution to the view updating problem, among other things.