Efficient evaluation of regular path programs

Abstract

The next generation of query languages for database systems should have the ability to express recursive queries, the efficient evaluation of which will be crucial to the success of these systems. One such query language which has been the subject of much research is Datalog. We define a class of Datalog programs, namely, the regular path programs, which can always be evaluated efficiently, in particular when constants are present in a query. Efficient evaluation is ensured by reducing the number of arguments appearing in each predicate defined in the program. The class of regular path programs is incomparable to previous classes to which the technique of argument reduction has been applied.