Relational model: Difference between revisions

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The '''relational model''' ('''RM''') is an approach to managing [[data]] using a [[Structure (mathematical logic)|structure]] and language consistent with [[first-order logic|first-order predicate logic]], first described in 1969 by English computer scientist [[Edgar F. Codd]],<ref>{{Citation | title = Derivability, Redundancy, and Consistency of Relations Stored in Large Data Banks | first = E.F | last = Codd | publisher = IBM | series = Research Report | year = 1969}}.</ref><ref name="codd1970">{{cite journal |last= Codd |first= E.F |year= 1970 |title= A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks |series= Classics |url= http://www.acm.org/classics/nov95/toc.html |journal= [[Communications of the ACM]] |volume= 13 |issue= 6 |pages= 377–87 |doi= 10.1145/362384.362685 |s2cid= 207549016 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070612235326/http://www.acm.org/classics/nov95/toc.html |archive-date= 2007-06-12 |doi-access= free }}</ref> where all data are represented in terms of [[tuple]]s, grouped into [[relation (database)|relation]]s. A database organized in terms of the relational model is a [[relational database]].

The purposepurpuse of the relational model is to provide a [[Declarative programming|declarative]] method for specifying data and queries: users directly state what information the database contains and what information they want from it, and let the [[database management system|database management system software]] take care of describing data structures for storing the data and retrieval procedures for answering queries.

Most relational databases use the [[SQL]] data definition and query language; these systems implement what can be regarded as an engineering approximation to the relational model. A ''[[Table (database)|table]]'' in a SQL [[database schema]] corresponds to a predicate variable; the contents of a table to a relation; key constraints, other constraints, and SQL queries correspond to predicates. However, SQL databases [[#SQL and the relational model|deviate from the relational model in many details]], and Codd fiercely argued against deviations that compromise the original principles.<ref>{{Citation | first = E. F | last = Codd | title = The Relational Model for Database Management | publisher = Addison-Wesley | year = 1990 | isbn = 978-0-201-14192-4 | pages=371–388}}.</ref>