Relational Programming in Rel

ACM SIGMOD Record 2026

View at publisher
Authors: Molham Aref, Paolo Guagliardo, George Kastrinis, Leonid O. Libkin, Victor Marsault, Wim Martens, Mary McGrath, Filip Murlak, Nathaniel Nystrom, Liat Peterfreund, Allison Rogers, Cristina Sirangelo
+3 more Domagoj Vrgo?c, David Zhao, Abdul Zreika
DOI: 10.1145/3810900.3810918
Cited by: 1
References: 16

Abstract

From the moment of their inception, languages for relational data have been described as sublanguages embedded in a host programming language. Rel is a new relational language that goes beyond this paradigm, with features that allow for programming in the large, making it possible to fully describe end to end application semantics. With the new approach we can model the semantics of entire enterprise applications relationally, which helps significantly reduce architecture complexity and avoid the well-known impedance mismatch problem. This paradigm shift is enabled by 50 years of database research, making it possible to revisit the sublanguage/host language paradigm, starting from the fundamental principles. We present a gentle introduction to Rel and the principles behind its design philosophy.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Advanced Database Systems and Queries Service-Oriented Architecture and Web Services Semantic Web and Ontologies

Publication details

Journal / source
ACM SIGMOD Record
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Volume
55
Issue
1
Pages
97–104
Publication date
23 April 2026
Language
EN