How to get Rid of SQL, Relational Algebra, the Relational Model, ERM, and ORMs in a Single Paper -- A Thought Experiment

2025-04-17

AI Summary

This paper addresses the limitations of traditional database systems—including outdated abstractions (SQL, relational algebra, ER modeling, ORM), restricted expressive power, and poor integration with modern programming languages—by proposing the Relational Mapping Type Model (RMTM), a unified data model that subsumes both the relational and ER models. Methodologically, it introduces a mapping-primitive query language grounded in RMTM, formally satisfying seven principled design criteria; this language operates directly over tuples, relations, and hierarchical database structures, enabling paradigm-level unification and elimination of SQL/RA/ERM/ORM distinctions. The approach integrates type-theoretic modeling, declarative semantic definitions, and a compatibility layer to ensure native programming-language integration and multi-level abstraction coherence. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that replacing only the data model—without modifying underlying algorithms—yields up to 3× performance improvement; moreover, the query language exhibits significantly greater expressiveness than SQL and natively aligns with contemporary software stacks.

Technology Category

• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Description Logics
• Reasoning under Uncertainty: Relational Probabilistic Models
• Data Mining & Knowledge Management: Intelligent Query Processing

Application Category

• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Querying, indexing, and retrieval in Web-related graphs
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Data management and stream processing for Web, mobile and wireless applications

Abstract

Without any doubt, the relational paradigm has been a huge success. At the same time, we believe that the time is ripe to rethink how database systems could look like if we designed them from scratch. Would we really end up with the same abstractions and techniques that are prevalent today? This paper explores that space. We discuss the various issues with both the relational model(RM) and the entity-relationship model (ERM). We provide a unified data model: the relational map type model (RMTM) which can represent both RM and ERM as special cases and overcomes all of their problems. We proceed to identify seven rules that an RMTM query language (QL) must fulfill and provide a foundation of a language fulfilling all seven rules. Our QL operates on maps which may represent tuples, relations, databases or sets of databases. Like that we dramatically expand the existing operational abstractions found in SQL and relational algebra (RA) which only operate on relations/tables. In fact, RA is just a special case of our much more generic approach. This work has far-reaching consequences: we show a path how to come up with a modern QL that solves (almost if not) all problems of SQL. Our QL is much more expressive than SQL and integrates smoothly into existing programming languages (PL). We also show results of an initial experiment showcasing that just by switching to our data model, and without changing the underlying query processing algorithms, we can achieve speed-ups of up to a factor 3. We will conclude that, if we build a database system from scratch, we could and should do this without SQL, RA, RM, ERM, and ORMs.

Problem

• Rethinking database systems from scratch without relational paradigms
• Proposing a unified data model to replace RM and ERM
• Designing a more expressive query language than SQL

Innovation

• Introduces relational map type model (RMTM)
• Proposes seven-rule query language (QL)
• Achieves speed-ups without algorithm changes