Abstract
A conceptual model is presented of the man-machine interface in data-base environments. It is suggested that this model, entitled Query Normal Form (QNF), is a universal mediator between formal query languages and relationally structurable data bases. As such, it provides a high degree of independence of query formulation from specific data-base structures. Furthermore, it can be used to verify the syntactic and semantic validity of queries stated in formal query languages before the initiation of data-base search. The descriptive adequacy of QNF as a model of formal query languages is established, as is its relational completeness in data-base interrogation capabilities. Finally, possible errors in QNF, both syntactic and semantic, are evaluated, and this line of research is compared with that of natural language query systems.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 261-270 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Information Systems |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1985 |
Keywords
- conceptual view
- data base queries
- descriptive adequacy
- formal query languages
- man-machine interface
- natural language queries
- relational completeness
- relational model
- semantic errors
- syntactic errors