Theoretical Aspects of Schema Merging

Peter Buneman, Susan Davidson, A. Kosky

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

A general technique for merging database schemas is developed that has a number of advantages over existing techniques, the most important of which is that schemas are placed in a partial order that has bounded joins. This means that the merging operation, when it succeeds, is both associative and commutative, i.e., that the merge of schemas is independent of the order in which they are considered — a property not possessed by existing methods. The operation is appropriate for the design of interactive programs as it allows user assertions about relationships between nodes in the schemas to be considered as elementary schemas. These can be combined with existing schemas using precisely the same merging operation.

The technique is general and can be applied to a variety of data models. It can also deal with certain cardinality constraints that arise through the imposition of keys. A prototype implementation, together with a graphical interface, has been developed.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAdvances in Database Technology - EDBT '92
Subtitle of host publication3rd International Conference on Extending Database Technology Vienna, Austria, March 23–27, 1992 Proceedings
PublisherSpringer
Pages152-167
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-540-47003-8
ISBN (Print)978-3-540-55270-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1992

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
PublisherSpringer Berlin / Heidelberg
Volume580
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

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