Developing Time-oriented Database Applications in SQL

Showing professional SQL programmers how to effectively develop applications that involve time-oriented data and queries, this book covers such areas as: how to best record temporal data in tables using the SQL types; how to define appropriate integrity restraints; how to correctly update temporal tables using interactive and embedded SQL; and how to write a wide range of interactive and embedded SQL queries involving temporal tables. Sample queries include time-slice queries, different kinds of temporal joins, temporal coalescing, temporal aggregates, temporal unions, differences, and intersections. In addition, the choice of appropriate storage structures and indices is covered. The accompanying CD-ROM includes all the SQL statements and embedded host code in the book, along with data from actual applications. The package provides real-life extended case studies which gradually introduce concepts and techniques.