Delta-X

Delta-X is a language for writing integrity constraints and a compiler that automatically generates constraint checking code. The compiler takes as input a database schema and a list of integrity constraints, and produces as output constraint-checking code.

The integrity constraints are written in the Delta-X constraint language, which is based closely on the XML standards XPath and XQuery. Because projects vary in their database infrastructure and programming languages, the Delta-X compiler is designed to adapt easily to many settings. The generated code is in a high-level, platform-independent language that resembles Java and C++. To adapt Delta-X to a project, a back end is created that translates the Delta-X generated code to code that runs on the target platform.

The Delta-X language and compiler were developed by Michael Benedikt and Glenn Bruns, in collaboration with several development groups at Lucent.

Additional information:

• On Guard: Producing Run-time Checks from Integrity Constraints. Michael Benedikt and Glenn Bruns. In Proceedings of AMAST 2004, 2004. (pdf) (Powerpoint presentation)
• Automated Update Management for XML Integrity Constraints. Michael Benedikt, Glenn Bruns, Julie Gibson, Robin Kuss, and Amy Ng. In Informal Proceedings of PLAN-X Workshop, 2002. (postscript)