60,142 research outputs found
The design and implementation of a relational programming system.
The declarative class of computer languages consists mainly of two paradigms
- the logic and the functional. Much research has been devoted in recent years
to the integration of the two with the aim of securing the advantages of both
without retaining their disadvantages. To date this research has, arguably, been
less fruitful than initially hoped. A large number of composite functional/logical
languages have been proposed but have generally been marred by the lack of a
firm, cohesive, mathematical basis. More recently new declarative paradigms,
equational and constraint languages, have been advocated. These however do
not fully encompass those features we perceive as being central to functional and
logic languages. The crucial functional features are higher-order definitions, static
polymorphic typing, applicative expressions and laziness. The crucial logic features are ability to reason about both functional and non-functional relationships
and to handle computations involving search.
This thesis advocates a new declarative paradigm which lies midway between
functional and logic languages - the so-called relational paradigm. In a relationallanguage program and data alike are denoted by relations. All expressions
are relations constructed from simpler expressions using operators which form
a relational algebra. The impetus for use of relations in a declarative language
comes from observations concerning their connection to functional and logic programming. Relations are mathematically more general than functions modelling
non-functional as well as functional relationships. They also form the basis of
many logic languages, for example, Prolog.
This thesis proposes a new relational language based entirely on binary relations, named Drusilla. We demonstrate the functional and logic aspects of
Drusilla. It retains the higher-order objects and polymorphism found in modern functional languages but handles non-determinism and models relationships
between objects in the manner of a logic language with notion of algorithm being composed of logic and control elements. Different programming styles -
functional, logic and relational- are illustrated.
However, such expressive power does not come for free; it has associated with
it a high cost of implementation. Two main techniques are used in the necessarily
complex language interpreter. A type inference system checks programs to ensure
they are meaningful and simultaneously performs automatic representation selection for relations. A symbolic manipulation system transforms programs to improve.
efficiency of expressions and to increase the number of possible representations
for relations while preserving program meaning
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Automated synthesis of data extraction and transformation programs
Due to the abundance of data in today’s data-rich world, end-users increasingly need to perform various data extraction and transformation tasks. While many of these tedious tasks can be performed in a programmatic way, most end-users lack the required programming expertise to automate them and end up spending their valuable time in manually performing various data- related tasks. The field of program synthesis aims to overcome this problem by automatically generating programs from informal specifications, such as input-output examples or natural language.
This dissertation focuses on the design and implementation of new systems for automating important classes of data transformation and extraction tasks. It introduces solutions for automating data manipulation tasks on fully- structured data formats like relational tables, or on semi-structured formats such as XML and JSON documents.
First, we describe a novel algorithm for synthesizing hierarchical data transformations from input-output examples. A key novelty of our approach is that it reduces the synthesis of tree transformations to the simpler problem of synthesizing transformations over the paths of the tree. We also describe a new and effective algorithm for learning path transformations that combines logical SMT-based reasoning with machine learning techniques based on decision trees.
Next, we present a new methodology for learning programs that migrate tree-structured documents to relational table representations from input-output examples. Our approach achieves its goal by decomposing the synthesis task to two subproblems of (A) learning the column extraction logic, and (B) learning the row extraction logic. We propose a technique for learning column extraction programs using deterministic finite automata, and a new algorithm for predicate learning which combines integer linear programing and logic minimization.
Finally, we address the problem of automating data extraction tasks from natural language. Specifically, we focus on data retrieval from relational databases and describe a novel approach for learning SQL queries from English descriptions. The method we describe is fully automatic and database-agnostic
(i.e., does not require customization for each database). Our method combines semantic parsing techniques from the NLP community with novel programming languages ideas involving probabilistic type inhabitation and automated sketch repair.Computer Science
CREOLE: a Universal Language for Creating, Requesting, Updating and Deleting Resources
In the context of Service-Oriented Computing, applications can be developed
following the REST (Representation State Transfer) architectural style. This
style corresponds to a resource-oriented model, where resources are manipulated
via CRUD (Create, Request, Update, Delete) interfaces. The diversity of CRUD
languages due to the absence of a standard leads to composition problems
related to adaptation, integration and coordination of services. To overcome
these problems, we propose a pivot architecture built around a universal
language to manipulate resources, called CREOLE, a CRUD Language for Resource
Edition. In this architecture, scripts written in existing CRUD languages, like
SQL, are compiled into Creole and then executed over different CRUD interfaces.
After stating the requirements for a universal language for manipulating
resources, we formally describe the language and informally motivate its
definition with respect to the requirements. We then concretely show how the
architecture solves adaptation, integration and coordination problems in the
case of photo management in Flickr and Picasa, two well-known service-oriented
applications. Finally, we propose a roadmap for future work.Comment: In Proceedings FOCLASA 2010, arXiv:1007.499
An introduction to Graph Data Management
A graph database is a database where the data structures for the schema
and/or instances are modeled as a (labeled)(directed) graph or generalizations
of it, and where querying is expressed by graph-oriented operations and type
constructors. In this article we present the basic notions of graph databases,
give an historical overview of its main development, and study the main current
systems that implement them
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Learning from AI : new trends in database technology
Recently some researchers in the areas of database data modelling and knowledge representations in artificial intelligence have recognized that they share many common goals. In this survey paper we show the relationship between database and artificial intelligence research. We show that there has been a tendency for data models to incorporate more modelling techniques developed for knowledge representations in artificial intelligence as the desire to incorporate more application oriented semantics, user friendliness, and flexibility has increased. Increasing the semantics of the representation is the key to capturing the "reality" of the database environment, increasing user friendliness, and facilitating the support of multiple, possibly conflicting, user views of the information contained in a database
Compiling ER Specifications into Declarative Programs
This paper proposes an environment to support high-level database programming
in a declarative programming language. In order to ensure safe database
updates, all access and update operations related to the database are generated
from high-level descriptions in the entity- relationship (ER) model. We propose
a representation of ER diagrams in the declarative language Curry so that they
can be constructed by various tools and then translated into this
representation. Furthermore, we have implemented a compiler from this
representation into a Curry program that provides access and update operations
based on a high-level API for database programming.Comment: Paper presented at the 17th Workshop on Logic-based Methods in
Programming Environments (WLPE2007
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