Frame-QL: An Introduction

Frame-QL is a query language for declaring a governed analytical result. The requester names the analytical quantities to be returned, declares the final anchor at which the result frame should exist, and states conditions that shape the request. The requester does not prescribe the relational operations or physical commands used to produce the result. This Version 2.0 introduction reconciles the explanation of Frame-QL with The Theory of Data, Version 6.0. A measure family is a governed analytical family such as Revenue, and a measure is that family at one anchor: Measure=MeasureFamily@Anchor. Frame-QL exposes two anchor responsibilities in its shipped syntax. Query-level AT {…} declares the single final output anchor of the returned frame. Expression-local @ {…} pins the anchor at which a subexpression must exist when consumed by an enclosing operation. The language therefore allows analytical distinctions such as Revenue@Order versus Revenue@Customer to remain explicit without requiring the requester to author joins, grouping procedures, or physical SQL. The paper explains why rows, tables, joins, and GROUP BY are not primitives of the Frame-QL request interface; how governed family identity differs from physical columns; how ambiguity becomes clarification rather than silent choice; and how Frame-QL can serve as an analytical-request boundary in AI-assisted analytics. The Frame-QL Manual, Second Edition remains authoritative for shipped syntax and behavior. This introduction updates the Theory-of-Data explanation only; it does not add syntax or import unshipped theoretical features into Frame-QL.