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Introduction

Manifesto

The relational data model is a fundamental component of the computing stack that until now has been cospicuously missing from Urbit. Why is this fundamental technology, with a sound foundation in relational algebra, set theory, and first order predicate calculus so frequently overlooked?

  1. RDBMS technology is not typically covered in today's CS curiculums.
  2. Developers don't want to hassle with setting up a server.
  3. Proprietary closed-source RDBMS implementations.
  4. Trendy no sql alternatives.
  5. Re-inventing the wheel for reasons.
  6. The prevalence of artificial keys in real world SQL implementations.

Some of these rearsons are irrational, others are just wrong.

  1. Speculatively, this may be because there is nothing new to discover. The relational model rests on well-understood math theory.
  2. Urbit fixes this.
  3. Urbit fixes this.
  4. Most programmers will never face a situation where an RDBMS is inadequate or inferior for the task. Key-value Store is a very simple relational database. The SQL standard was hastily developed and has some unnecesary baggage which makes it hard to master. Cyclic graphs such as social graphs are difficult to model and work with in SQL. This can be addressed in a blank-slate Urbit implementation.
  5. New and junior programmers with little or no SQL exposure mistakenly think they can write better/faster IO by hand, whereas experienced engineers know to use SQL first for all the functionality wherein it can be used (except sorting, which is not strictly part of the relational model).
  6. Explaining the case for using natural keys on tables over artificial keys is beyond the scope of this document. See for instance keys demo. Suffice it to say almost all sample databases for learning SQL incorporate artificial keys, which reinforces wrong practices, so most SQL database implementations also make this mistake. Artificial keys make the database schema brittle and hard for humans to comprehend.

An Urbit native RDBMS implementation opens new opportunities for composability. All of a ship's data is transparently available for mash up apps and ad hoc queries. Search comes for free.

An Urbit RDBMS deserves a first principles approach to design and implementation. The urQL language is heavily influenced by The Third Manefesto (Date and Darwen), emphasizing composability and type safety. Areas where SQL was too hastily designed and/or developed without regard to theory (like nullable columns) have been eliminated, making urQL much more like the ur Query Language Codd and Date would have been proud of.

Functionality

The Urbit RDBMS (still to be named) consists of

  1. A scripting language and parser (this document)
  2. A plan builder
  3. Eventually, a front-end app...anyone can write one from the parser and plan APIs.

The scripting language, urQL, derives from SQL and varies in only a few cases.

Queries are constructed in FROM..WHERE..SELECT.. order, the order of events in plan exection. (The user should be cognizant of the ordering of events.)

Columns are atoms with auras. Table definitions do not allow for nullable columns.

All user-defined names follow the hoon term naming standard.

All except the simplest functions are collected in their own section and aliased inline into SELECT clause and predicates. Emphasizes composability and improves readability.

There are no subqueries. JOINs and/or CTEs handle all such use cases and emphasize composability. CTEs can be referenced for certain use cases in predicates.

The result of a UNION set operation is as according to union in set theory (no duplicate rows returned). Use COMBINE to include duplicates. Relational division is supported with a DIVIDED BY operator.

Reading and/or updating data on foreign ships is allowed provided the ship's pilot has granted permission. Cross database joins are allowed, but not cross ship joins. Views cannot be defined on foreign databases.

This document has placeholders for Stored Procedures and Triggers, which have yet to be defined. We anticipate these will be points for integration with hoon. Pivoting and Windowing will be in a future release.

urQL language diagrams

[ ] indicate optional entries. { } nest options | delimited. In some cases { } groups a portion of the diagram to indicate optional repeating [ ,...n ]. < > hint for user input, e.g. <alias>, <table>, or is a placeholder for an expanded diagram defined elsewhere.

The following hints are used througout the reference.

<db-qualifer> ::=
  { <database>.<namespace>. | <database>.. | <namespace>. }

<ship-qualifer> ::=
  { @p.<database>.<namespace>.
    | @p.<database>..
    | <db-qualifer> }

<table-view> ::=
  [ <ship-qualifer> ]{ <table> | <view> }

<common-table-expression> ::=
  { <alias> AS ( <query> ) } [ ,...n ] ;

<query> ::= from query diagram.

<expression> ::= from query diagram.

Text outside of brakets represents required keywords.

All whitespace is the same, a single space or LF suffices. Whitespace around delimiting ; and , is optional. Whitespace is required on the outside of parentheses and optional on the inside.

Multiple statements must be delimited by ;.

Keywords are uppercase. This is not a requirement, but is strongly suggested for readability.

Issues

(incomplete list)

  1. stored procedures
  2. https://github.com/sigilante/l10n localization of date/time
  3. triggers