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: hd01f0035abe8a452
Venue: PODS
Year: 1982
Pagerank: 0.00015434033
Overall Rank: 628 | 95.79%
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
96	The Database Language GEM	1983	SIGMOD	0.00034271712
971	On the Representation and Querying of Sets of Possible Worlds	1987	SIGMOD	0.00012766663
1,088	Updates Of Relational Views	1983	PODS	0.00012085975
2,979	An Implementation of GEM — supporting a semantic data model on a relational back-end.	1984	SIGMOD	7.7866278e-05
2,990	Data Exchange and Incomplete Information	2006	PODS	7.7719132e-05
3,475	Embedded Functional Dependencies and Data-completeness Tailored Database Design	2019	VLDB	7.2673243e-05
3,696	OLAP over Imprecise Data with Domain Constraints	2007	VLDB	7.0895753e-05
3,815	Closed World Databases Opened Through Null Values	1988	VLDB	7.0051309e-05
4,106	Inheritance and Persistence in Database Programming Languages	1986	SIGMOD	6.8022187e-05
4,342	Possible and Certain SQL Keys	2015	VLDB	6.6478954e-05
4,392	On Semantic Reefs and Efficient Processing of Correlation Queries with Aggregates	1985	VLDB	6.619079e-05
4,749	Characterization of Well-Behaved Database Schemata and Their Update Semantics	1983	VLDB	6.4349153e-05
5,398	Incomplete Data: What Went Wrong, and How to Fix It	2014	PODS	6.1473171e-05
5,510	Troubles with Nulls, Views from the Users	2022	VLDB	6.0980926e-05
5,803	Making SQL Queries Correct on Incomplete Databases: A Feasibility Study	2016	PODS	5.9867996e-05
6,013	SQL Nulls and Two-Valued Logic	2023	PODS	5.911397e-05
6,630	Representing and Querying XML with Incomplete Information	2001	PODS	5.7264133e-05
9,976	SQL Schema Design: Foundations, Normal Forms, and Normalization	2016	SIGMOD	5.1014161e-05
11,564	Mixed Covers of Keys and Functional Dependencies for Maintaining the Integrity of Data under Updates	2024	VLDB	4.9769913e-05
12,603	Declarative Error Management for Robust Data-Intensive Applications	2012	SIGMOD	4.9769913e-05
12,711	When Data Dependencies over SQL Tables Meet the Logics of Paradox and S-3	2010	PODS	4.9769913e-05
13,469	A New Basis for the Weak Instance Model	1987	PODS	4.9769913e-05
13,503	QUERYING LOGICAL DATABASES: Preliminary Report	1985	PODS	4.9769913e-05
13,546	Algebraic Aspects of Relational Database Decomposition (Extended Abstract)	1983	PODS	4.9769913e-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	0.00075910134
1,419	Null Values in Data Base Management: A Denotational Semantics Approach	1979	SIGMOD	0.00010726593

Semantically Similar Papers

#	Overall Rank	Paper	Year	Venue
1	4,199	Incomplete Information and Dependencies in Relational Databases	1983	SIGMOD
2	12,711	When Data Dependencies over SQL Tables Meet the Logics of Paradox and S-3	2010	PODS
3	6,013	SQL Nulls and Two-Valued Logic	2023	PODS
4	3,808	Dependency Satisfaction in Databases with Incomplete Information	1984	VLDB
5	3,719	A Formal Semantics of SQL Queries, Its Validation, and Applications	2018	VLDB
6	5,510	Troubles with Nulls, Views from the Users	2022	VLDB
7	4,131	On Relational Algebra With Marked Nulls	1984	PODS
8	1,419	Null Values in Data Base Management: A Denotational Semantics Approach	1979	SIGMOD
9	3,815	Closed World Databases Opened Through Null Values	1988	VLDB
10	13,448	A Sound and Complete Query Evaluation Algorithm for Relational Databases with Null Values	1988	SIGMOD