On the Expressive Power of Update Primitives
Summary: Shows replace-by-query cannot be expressed using insert/delete/modify, and modify cannot be expressed by insert+delete; adding if-then-else control flow strictly increases expressive power. Discusses implementation routes (temp vars, MERGE, deltas, object creation/arithmetic) and proves primitive ordering/alternation matters (e.g., insert;modify ≠ modify;insert). (summarized by gpt-5-mini on Feb 09 2026)
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Citations counted here include only citations to other VLDB/SIGMOD/CIDR/PODS papers in this database.
| Rank | Cited Paper | Year | Venue | Pagerank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 309 | The Format Model: A Theory of Database Organization (extended abstract) | 1982 | PODS | 0.00028136165 |
| 938 | Queries Independent of Updates | 1993 | VLDB | 0.00015197786 |
| 3,046 | Updating XML | 2001 | SIGMOD | 7.65634e-05 |
| 5,444 | Destabilizers and Independence of XML Updates | 2010 | VLDB | 5.5025148e-05 |
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