Typed query languages for databases containing queries

Abstract

This paper introduces and studies the relational meta algebra, a statically typed extension of the relational algebra to allow for meta programming in databases. In this meta algebra one can manipulate database relations involving not only stored data values (as in classical relational databases) but also stored relational algebra expressions. Topics discussed include modeling of advanced database applications involving "procedural data"; desirability as well as limitations of a strict typing discipline in this context; equivalence with a first-order calculus; and global expressive power and non-redundancy of the proposed formalism.