A Taxonomy of Correctness Criteria in Database Applications

Abstract

Whereas serializability captures database consistency requirements and transaction correctness properties via a single notion, recent research has attempted to come up with correctness criteria that view these two types of requirements independently. The search for more flexible correctness criteria is partly motivated by the introduction of new transaction models that extend the traditional atomic transaction model. These extensions came about because the atomic transaction model in conjunction with serializability is found to be very constraining when used in advanced applications, such as design databases, that function in distributed, cooperative, and heterogeneous environments. In this paper, we develop a taxonomy of various correctness criteria that focus on database consistency requirements and transaction correctness properties from the viewpoint of what the different dimensions of these two are. This taxonomy allows us to categorize correctness criteria that have been proposed..