WinRDBI Teaches
Relational Database Queries
with Java and Amzi!
WinRDBI is a relational database interpreter for query languages with
a windows-based graphical user interface (GUI). WinRDBI is based on the
foundation of deductive database technology. The relational database instance
is stored as Prolog facts. The tool parses the query language and converts
the query to a declarative specification in Prolog and executes that declarative
query.
WinRDBI's GUI is written in Java Swing and calls the Amzi! Prolog and
Logic Server API to maintain the database and to parse and execute the
queries. WinRDBI currently supports the formal relational algebra and
(domain and tuple) relational calculus query languages and the industry-standard
query language SQL (SQL-89).
WinRDBI is available for educational, non-commercial use (see http://www.eas.asu.edu/~winrdbi)
for the Windows platform. With the multi-platform support provided by
Amzi!, WinRDBI should be available soon for the Linux operating system.
 The
foundation of the query languages recognized by WinRDBI is described in
a new book from Prentice Hall - Understanding Relational Database Query
Languages by Suzanne W. Dietrich (see http://www.prenhall.com/dietrich).
The author has been helping students at Arizona State University understand
relational database query languages for many years and leads the design
and development of the WinRDBI educational tool.
The book includes an introduction to the relational data model and the
design of relational databases. There is a chapter on each query language,
presenting the foundation and characteristics of that language on an Employee
Training enterprise. A case studies chapter describes three database enterprises
- Web Page, New Home, and Investment Portfolio - including a description
of the data requirements, its conceptual design as an Entity Relationship
diagram, its corresponding relational database schema, and a side-by-side
comparison of the four query languages using relevant queries over the
enterprise. There is also a chapter on the query languages supported by
the popular PC-based database product Microsoft Access. The appendix includes
an overview of WinRDBI and its implementation using Amzi!.
|
