Extending the Relational Algebra to Capture Complex Objects

Summary: Extends relational algebra with the molecule-atom data model (MAD) and molecule algebra to support networked objects, shared subobjects, and dynamic definitions. It provides precise semantics for MQL, enabling descriptive queries of complex objects. (summarized by gpt-5-nano on Feb 09 2026)

Paper ID: 8101
Venue: VLDB
Year: 1989
Pagerank: 5.7258694e-05
Overall Rank: 7,014 | 51.88%
DOI: -

Incoming Non-self Citations Over Time

Authors

1. Bernhard Mitschang (University of Kaiserslautern)

BibTeX Citation

@article{mitschang_vldb89,
        title = {{Extending the Relational Algebra to Capture Complex Objects}},
        author = {Mitschang, Bernhard},
        journal = {PVLDB},
        series = {{VLDB} '89},
        year = {1989}
}

Incoming Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 3 of 3 citing papers.

Rank	Citing Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
7,307	Support for Temporal Data by Complex Objects	1990	VLDB	5.6498605e-05
13,089	Realizing a Temporal Complex-Object Data Model	1992	SIGMOD	5.093636e-05
14,371	PRIMA - A Database System Supporting Dynamically Defined Composite Objects	1992	SIGMOD	-

Outgoing Citations (Sorted by Pagerank)

Showing 9 of 9 cited papers.

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

Rank	Cited Paper	Year	Venue	Pagerank
346	A DBMS Prototype to Support Extended NF2 Relations: An Integrated View on Flat Tables and Hierarchies	1986	SIGMOD	0.00020654241
475	A Calculus for Complex Objects	1986	PODS	0.00017864549
538	Non First Normal Form Relations To Represent Hierarchically Organized Data	1984	PODS	0.00016919845
684	A Data Model and Query Language for EXODUS	1988	SIGMOD	0.00014990873
1,056	A Normal Form for Nested Relations	1985	PODS	0.00012388199
1,118	The POSTGRES Data Model	1987	VLDB	0.00012104924
1,737	Molecular Objects, Abstract Data Types, and Data Models: A Framework	1984	VLDB	9.8838348e-05
2,518	Architecture and Implementation of the Darmstadt Database Kernel System	1987	SIGMOD	8.4755514e-05
4,364	PRIMA - a DBMS Prototype Supporting Engineering Applications	1987	VLDB	6.7411088e-05

Semantically Similar Papers

#	Overall Rank	Paper	Year	Venue
1	589	On The Semantics Of The Relational Data Model	1975	SIGMOD
2	3,781	A Modal System of Algebras for Database Specification and Query/Update Language Support	1983	VLDB
3	848	The Representation and Deductive Retrieval of Complex Objects	1985	VLDB
4	1,928	Relations with Relation Names as Arguments: Algebra and Calculus	1992	PODS
5	13,240	A Data Manipulation Model: An Extension of the Alpha Expression	1984	VLDB
6	8,123	Managing Complex Objects in an Extensible Relational DBMS	1989	VLDB
7	13,154	An Implementation Model For Reasoning With Complex Objects	1988	SIGMOD
8	1,003	Algebraic Support for Complex Objects with Arrays, Identity, and Inheritance	1991	SIGMOD
9	10	Extending the Data Base Relational Model to Capture More Meaning	1979	SIGMOD
10	1,737	Molecular Objects, Abstract Data Types, and Data Models: A Framework	1984	VLDB