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Software Development in Relation Algebra with Ampersand

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Book cover Relational and Algebraic Methods in Computer Science (RAMICS 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 10226))

Abstract

Relation Algebra can be used as a programming language for building information systems. This paper presents a case study to demonstrate this principle. We have developed a database-application for legal reasoning as a case study, of which a small part is discussed in this paper to illustrate the mechanisms of programming in Relation Algebra. Beside being declarative, relation algebra comes with attractive promises for developing big software. The compiler that was used for this case study, Ampersand, is the result of an open source project. Ampersand has been tried and tested in practice and is available as free open source software.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A brief is a document that is meant to summarize a lawsuit for the judge and counterparty. It provides legal reasons for claims in a lawsuit based on regulations, precedents, and other legally acceptable sources. It shows how the reasoning applies to facts from the case.

  2. 2.

    Ampersand generates an application that consists of a relational database and interface components. Currently this application runs server-side on a PHP/MySQL platform and on a web-browser on the client-side.

  3. 3.

    To restore invariance is sometimes used as a synonym to resolving violations. Consequently, a rule is sometimes called invariant.

  4. 4.

    Thanks to Elleke Baecke for pointing us towards this source.

  5. 5.

    This type of statement is typical for cases. It is valid only in the case where this particular John Brown is known. In other cases, where John Brown is unknown, this statement is meaningless.

  6. 6.

    Note that we use the notion “the phrase of a placeholder” to indicate a pair from \({{ phrase}}^{\smile };{ placeholder}\).

  7. 7.

    Ins and Del are called each others duals.

  8. 8.

    This is (unsubstantiated) experience collected from projects we have done with Ampersand.

  9. 9.

    e.g. patents DE60218042D, WO2006126875, EP1727327, WO2004046848, EP1563361, NL1023394C, EP1420323, WO03007571, and NL1013450C.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Open Universiteit Nederland, Postbus 2960, 6401 DL, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    Stef Joosten

  2. Ordina NV, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands

    Stef Joosten

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  1. Stef Joosten
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Correspondence to Stef Joosten .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Data61, CSIRO, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Peter Höfner

  2. CNRS, Lyon, France

    Damien Pous

  3. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Georg Struth

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Joosten, S. (2017). Software Development in Relation Algebra with Ampersand. In: Höfner, P., Pous, D., Struth, G. (eds) Relational and Algebraic Methods in Computer Science. RAMICS 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10226. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57418-9_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57418-9_11

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