Database Relations with Null Values (Extended Abstract)

Summary: Introduces a "no-information" semantics for nulls with a distinguished symbol ni and a lattice-based generalization of relational algebra that completes the relation type while preserving set-theoretic foundations. Derives calculus–algebra correspondence for efficient query evaluation and contrasts prior unknown/nonexistent interpretations. (summarized by gpt-5-mini on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID: 605
Venue: PODS
Year: 1982
Pagerank: 0.00015723523
Overall Rank: 613 | 95.80%
DOI: 10.1145/588111.588117

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

1. Carlo Zaniolo (AT&T)

BibTeX Citation

@inproceedings{zaniolo_pods82,
        address = {New York, NY, USA},
        series = {{PODS} '82},
        title = {{Database Relations with Null Values (Extended Abstract)}},
        url = {https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/588111.588117},
        doi = {10.1145/588111.588117},
        booktitle = {Proceedings of the {ACM} {SIGMOD} Symposium on {Principles} of {Database} {Systems}},
        publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
        author = {Zaniolo, Carlo},
        year = {1982}
}

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 24 of 24 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
92	The Database Language GEM	1983	SIGMOD	0.00034759032
947	On the Representation and Querying of Sets of Possible Worlds	1987	SIGMOD	0.00013041389
1,075	Updates Of Relational Views	1983	PODS	0.00012294896
2,912	An Implementation of GEM — supporting a semantic data model on a relational back-end.	1984	SIGMOD	7.9688007e-05
2,934	Data Exchange and Incomplete Information	2006	PODS	7.9451055e-05
3,609	Embedded Functional Dependencies and Data-completeness Tailored Database Design	2019	VLDB	7.2602055e-05
3,619	OLAP over Imprecise Data with Domain Constraints	2007	VLDB	7.2508853e-05
3,733	Closed World Databases Opened Through Null Values	1988	VLDB	7.1653591e-05
4,010	Inheritance and Persistence in Database Programming Languages	1986	SIGMOD	6.9610816e-05
4,303	Possible and Certain SQL Keys	2015	VLDB	6.7711902e-05
4,310	On Semantic Reefs and Efficient Processing of Correlation Queries with Aggregates	1985	VLDB	6.7677766e-05
4,654	Characterization of Well-Behaved Database Schemata and Their Update Semantics	1983	VLDB	6.5842312e-05
5,271	Incomplete Data: What Went Wrong, and How to Fix It	2014	PODS	6.2907571e-05
5,378	Troubles with Nulls, Views from the Users	2022	VLDB	6.2406439e-05
5,677	Making SQL Queries Correct on Incomplete Databases: A Feasibility Study	2016	PODS	6.1248899e-05
6,501	Representing and Querying XML with Incomplete Information	2001	PODS	5.8604724e-05
6,950	SQL Nulls and Two-Valued Logic	2023	PODS	5.7303405e-05
11,221	Mixed Covers of Keys and Functional Dependencies for Maintaining the Integrity of Data under Updates	2024	VLDB	5.093636e-05
12,055	SQL Schema Design: Foundations, Normal Forms, and Normalization	2016	SIGMOD	5.093636e-05
12,306	Declarative Error Management for Robust Data-Intensive Applications	2012	SIGMOD	5.093636e-05
12,414	When Data Dependencies over SQL Tables Meet the Logics of Paradox and S-3	2010	PODS	5.093636e-05
13,173	A New Basis for the Weak Instance Model	1987	PODS	5.093636e-05
13,207	QUERYING LOGICAL DATABASES: Preliminary Report	1985	PODS	5.093636e-05
13,250	Algebraic Aspects of Relational Database Decomposition (Extended Abstract)	1983	PODS	5.093636e-05

Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 2 of 2 cited papers.

Citations counted here include only citations to other VLDB/SIGMOD/CIDR/PODS papers in this database.

Rank	Cited Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
10	Extending the Data Base Relational Model to Capture More Meaning	1979	SIGMOD	0.0007727299
1,380	Null Values in Data Base Management: A Denotational Semantics Approach	1979	SIGMOD	0.00010965714

Semantically Similar Papers

#	Overall Rank	Paper	Year	Venue
1	4,115	Incomplete Information and Dependencies in Relational Databases	1983	SIGMOD
2	6,950	SQL Nulls and Two-Valued Logic	2023	PODS
3	12,414	When Data Dependencies over SQL Tables Meet the Logics of Paradox and S-3	2010	PODS
4	3,750	Dependency Satisfaction in Databases with Incomplete Information	1984	VLDB
5	3,925	A Formal Semantics of SQL Queries, Its Validation, and Applications	2018	VLDB
6	5,378	Troubles with Nulls, Views from the Users	2022	VLDB
7	4,032	On Relational Algebra With Marked Nulls	1984	PODS
8	1,380	Null Values in Data Base Management: A Denotational Semantics Approach	1979	SIGMOD
9	3,733	Closed World Databases Opened Through Null Values	1988	VLDB
10	13,152	A Sound and Complete Query Evaluation Algorithm for Relational Databases with Null Values	1988	SIGMOD