A Temporal Framework for Database Specifications
José Mauro Volkmer de Castilho, Marco A. Casanova, Antonio Luz Furtado · Very Large Data Bases · 1982
A database description framework is introduced that accounts for static constraints, that is, constraints on what data can be stored,as well as transition constraints, that is, constraints on how data can be updated. Two levels of specification are considered. At the first level of specification, a database description Dl does not indicate how the database will be updated. Transition constraints are then specified with the help of a variant of Temporal Logic. By contrast, at the second level of specification, a database description D2 includes a set of built-in update operations, which are described by their properties. The advantages accrued from this approach are twofold: first-level specifications give a stable description of constraints, while second-level specifications suggest a strategy to enforce constraints.