Panel on “Past and future of computer science theory”

The twenty-ninth edition of the SEBD (Italian Symposium on Advanced Database Systems), held on 5-9 September 2021 in Pizzo (Calabria Region, Italy), included a joint seminar on “Reminiscence of TIDB 1981” with invited talks given by some of the participants to the Advanced Seminar on Theoretical Issues in Databases (TIDB), which took place in the same region exactly forty years earlier. The joint seminar was concluded by a Panel on “The Past and the Future of Computer Science Theory” with the participation of four distinguished computer science theorists (Ronald Fagin, Georg Gottlob, Christos Papadimitriou and Moshe Vardi), who were interviewed by Giorgio Ausiello, Maurizio Lenzerini, Luigi Palopoli, Domenico Saccà and Francesco Scarcello. This paper reports the summaries of the four interviews

Distribution Policies for Datalog

Modern data management systems extensively use parallelism to speed up query processing over massive volumes of data. This trend has inspired a rich line of research on how to formally reason about the parallel complexity of join computation. In this paper, we go beyond joins and study the parallel evaluation of recursive queries. We introduce a novel framework to reason about multi-round evaluation of Datalog programs, which combines implicit predicate restriction with distribution policies to allow expressing a combination of data-parallel and query-parallel evaluation strategies. Using our framework, we reason about key properties of distributed Datalog evaluation, including parallel-correctness of the evaluation strategy, disjointness of the computation effort, and bounds on the number of communication rounds

Fine-Grained Complexity of Regular Path Queries

A regular path query (RPQ) is a regular expression q that returns all node pairs (u, v) from a graph database that are connected by an arbitrary path labelled with a word from L(q). The obvious algorithmic approach to RPQ evaluation (called PG-approach), i. e., constructing the product graph between an NFA for q and the graph database, is appealing due to its simplicity and also leads to efficient algorithms. However, it is unclear whether the PG-approach is optimal. We address this question by thoroughly investigating which upper complexity bounds can be achieved by the PG-approach, and we complement these with conditional lower bounds (in the sense of the fine-grained complexity framework). A special focus is put on enumeration and delay bounds, as well as the data complexity perspective. A main insight is that we can achieve optimal (or near optimal) algorithms with the PG-approach, but the delay for enumeration is rather high (linear in the database). We explore three successful approaches towards enumeration with sub-linear delay: super-linear preprocessing, approximations of the solution sets, and restricted classes of RPQs

Histogram techniques for cost estimation in query optimization.

Yu Xiaohui.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-115).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 2 --- Related Work --- p.6Chapter 2.1 --- Query Optimization --- p.6Chapter 2.2 --- Query Rewriting --- p.8Chapter 2.2.1 --- Optimizing Multi-Block Queries --- p.8Chapter 2.2.2 --- Semantic Query Optimization --- p.13Chapter 2.2.3 --- Query Rewriting in Starburst --- p.15Chapter 2.3 --- Plan Generation --- p.16Chapter 2.3.1 --- Dynamic Programming Approach --- p.16Chapter 2.3.2 --- Join Query Processing --- p.17Chapter 2.3.3 --- Queries with Aggregates --- p.23Chapter 2.4 --- Statistics and Cost Estimation --- p.24Chapter 2.5 --- Histogram Techniques --- p.27Chapter 2.5.1 --- Definitions --- p.28Chapter 2.5.2 --- Trivial Histograms --- p.29Chapter 2.5.3 --- Heuristic-based Histograms --- p.29Chapter 2.5.4 --- V-Optimal Histograms --- p.32Chapter 2.5.5 --- Wavelet-based Histograms --- p.35Chapter 2.5.6 --- Multidimensional Histograms --- p.35Chapter 2.5.7 --- Global Histograms --- p.37Chapter 3 --- New Histogram Techniques --- p.39Chapter 3.1 --- Piecewise Linear Histograms --- p.39Chapter 3.1.1 --- Construction --- p.41Chapter 3.1.2 --- Usage --- p.43Chapter 3.1.3 --- Error Measures --- p.43Chapter 3.1.4 --- Experiments --- p.45Chapter 3.1.5 --- Conclusion --- p.51Chapter 3.2 --- A-Optimal Histograms --- p.54Chapter 3.2.1 --- A-Optimal(mean) Histograms --- p.56Chapter 3.2.2 --- A-Optimal(median) Histograms --- p.58Chapter 3.2.3 --- A-Optimal(median-cf) Histograms --- p.59Chapter 3.2.4 --- Experiments --- p.60Chapter 4 --- Global Histograms --- p.64Chapter 4.1 --- Wavelet-based Global Histograms --- p.65Chapter 4.1.1 --- Wavelet-based Global Histograms I --- p.66Chapter 4.1.2 --- Wavelet-based Global Histograms II --- p.68Chapter 4.2 --- Piecewise Linear Global Histograms --- p.70Chapter 4.3 --- A-Optimal Global Histograms --- p.72Chapter 4.3.1 --- Experiments --- p.74Chapter 5 --- Dynamic Maintenance --- p.81Chapter 5.1 --- Problem Definition --- p.83Chapter 5.2 --- Refining Bucket Coefficients --- p.84Chapter 5.3 --- Restructuring --- p.86Chapter 5.4 --- Experiments --- p.91Chapter 6 --- Conclusions --- p.95Bibliography --- p.9

Integration of an Informatics System in a High Throughput Experimentation. Description of a Global Framework Illustrated Through Several Examples.

International audienceHigh Throughput Experimentation (HTE) is a rapidly expanding field. However, the productivity gains obtained via the synthesis or parallel testing of catalysts may be lost due to poor data management (numerous manual inputs, information difficult to access, etc.). A global framework has then been developed. It includes the HTE pilot plants in the global information system. It produces dedicated computer tools offering spectacular time savings in the operation of HTE units, information storage and rapid extraction of relevant information. To optimize the productivity of engineers, Excel has been included in the system by adding specific features in order to treat it as an industrial tool (development of additional modules, update of modules, etc.). The success obtained by setting up the information system is largely due to the chosen development method. An Agile method (Agile Alliance (2012) http://www.agilealliance.org/the-alliance/)[1] was chosen since close collaboration between the computer specialists and the chemist engineers is essential. Rather than a global and precise description of the framework which might be boring and tedious, the global framework is presented through 3 examples: - scheduling experiments applied to zeolite synthesis; - data management (storage and access); - real application to pilot plant: dedicated interfaces to pilot and supervise HTE pilot plants, comparison of tests runs coming from several pilot plants

Sur l'analyse statique des requêtes SPARQL avec la logique modale

Static analysis is a core task in query optimization and knowledge base verification. We study static analysis techniques for SPARQL, the standard language for querying Semantic Web data. Specifically, we investigate the query containment problem and the query-update independence analysis. We are interested in developing techniques through reductions to the validity problem in logic.We address SPARQL query containment with optional matching. We focus on the class of well-designed SPARQL queries, proposed in the literature as a fragment of the language with good properties regarding query evaluation. SPARQL is interpreted over graphs, hence we encode it in a graph logic, specifically the modal logic K interpreted over label transition systems. We show that this logic is powerful enough to deal with query containment for the well-designed fragment of SPARQL. We show how to translate RDF graphs into transition systems and SPARQL queries into K-formulae. Therefore, query containment in SPARQL can be reduced to unsatisfiability in K.We also report on a preliminary overview of the SPARQL query-update problem. A query is independent of an update when the execution of the update does not affect the result of the query. Determining independence is especially useful in the contest of huge RDF repositories, where it permits to avoid expensive yet useless re-evaluation of queries. While this problem has been intensively studied for fragments of relational calculus, no works exist for the standard query language for the semantic web. We report on our investigations on how a notion of independence can be defined in the SPARQL contextL’analyse statique est une tâche essentielle dans l’optimisation des requêtes et la vérification de la base de graphes RDF. Nous étudions des techniques d’analyse statique pour SPARQL, le langage standard pour l’interrogation des données du Web sémantique. Plus précisément, nous étudions le problème d’inclusion des requêtes et de l’analyse de l’indépendance entre les requêtes et la mise à jour de la base de graphes RDF.Nous sommes intéressés par le développement de techniques grâce à des réductions au problème de la satisfaisabilité de la logique.Nous nous traitons le problème d’inclusion des requêtes SPARQL en présence de l’opérateur OPTIONAL. L’optionalité est l’un des constructeurs les plus compliqués dans SPARQL et aussi celui qui rend ce langage plus expressif que les langages de requêtes classiques, comme SQL.Nous nous concentrons sur la classe de requêtes appelée "well-designed SPARQL", proposées dans la littérature comme un fragment du langage avec de bonnes propriétés en matière d’évaluation des requêtes incluent l’opération OPTIONAL. À ce jour, l’inclusion de requête a été testée à l’aide de différentes techniques: homomorphisme de graphes, bases de données canoniques, techniques de la théorie des automates et réduction au problème de la validité d’une logique. Dans cette thèse, nous utilisons la dernière technique pour tester l’inclusion des requêtes SPARQL avec OPTIONAL utilisant une logique expressive appelée «logique K». En utilisant cette technique, il est possible de régler le problème d’inclusion des requêtes pour plusieurs fragment de SPARQL, même en présence de schémas. Cette extensibilité n’est pas garantie par les autres méthodes.Nous montrons comment traduire a graphe RDF en un système de transitions, ainsi que une requête SPARQL en une formula K. Avec ces traductions, l’inclusion des requêtes dans SPARQL peut être réduite au test de la validité d’une formule logique. Un avantage de cette approche est d’ouvrir la voie pour des implémentations utilisant solveurs de satisfiabilité pour K.Nous présentons un banc d’essais de tests d’inclusion pour les requêtes SPARQL avec OPTIONAL. Nous avons effectué des expériences pour tester et comparer des solveurs d’inclusion de l’état de l’art.Nous présentons également un aperçu préliminaire du problème d’indépendance entre requête et mise à jour. Une requête est indépendante de la mise à jour lorsque l’exécution de la mise à jour ne modifie pas le résultat de la requête. Bien que ce problème ait été intensivement étudié pour des fragments de calcul relationnel, il n’existe pas de travaux pour le langage de requêtes standard pour le web sémantique. Nous proposons une définition de la notion de l’indépendance dans le contexte de SPARQL et nous établissons des premières pistes de analyse statique dans certains situations d’inclusion entre une requête et une mise à jour