SciQL, A Query Language for Science Applications

Scientific applications are still poorly served by contemporary re-lational database systems. At best, the system provides a bridge towards an external library using user-defined functions, explicit import/export facilities or linked-in Java/C # interpreters. Time has come to rectify this with SciQL1, a SQL-query language for science applications with arrays as first class citizens. It provides a seam-less symbiosis of array-, set-, and sequence- interpretation using a clear separation of the mathematical object from its underlying storage representation. The language extends value-based grouping in SQL with struc-tural grouping, i.e., fixed-sized and unbounded groups based on explicit relationships between its index attributes. It leads to a gen-eralization of window-based query processing. The SciQL architecture benefits from a column store system with an adaptive storage scheme, including keeping multiple represen-tations around for reduced impedance mismatch. This paper is fo-cused on the language features, its architectural consequences and extensive examples of its intended use. 1