Specification and Verification of Database Semantic Integrity
PhD Thesis, Computer Systems Research Group, Dept. of Computer Science, Toronto, Canada, (April 1978)Abstract
Semantic integrity is fundamental to the correct application and use of database systems. A database exhibits semantic integrity if it is logically consistent and complete with respect to the real world application being modelled. Although the evaluation of semantic integrity relies on intuition to a large degree, database models should facilitate its demonstration. To meet these requirements database models must be rich enough to permit the specification of the necessary semantics and to support the verification and validation of consistency. Database, programming language, and artificial intelligence concepts are integrated and extended to provide tools and techniques for improved database semantic integrity. Artificial intelligence concepts are applied to improve the semantic power of database models. Data type concepts are extended to accommodate databases and vice versa. The result is a semantically rich database model, based on data type concepts, and a schema specification language which integrates these concepts. This approach permits data type concepts to be applied directly to databases. It is argued that database semantic integrity can be improved through specification and verification tools and techniques based on data type concepts.