CSE590ds Course Overview

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Course Summary

XML and, more generally, semistructured data, differs in shape from traditional relational data. More importantly, it is used in novel kinds of applications: exchange and retrieval on the Web, rather than local storage and processing. This course covers some major developments in semistructured data and XML that happened over the last few years: data models, syntax, query languages, schemas, query analysis, type-checking, publishing, indexes, storage methods, and systems aspects.

OUTLINE (tentative)

1. Introduction. SS data: its origins, its data models (OEM, value-based), comparison with relational data
2. XML: syntax (elements, attributes, DTD's, ID/IDREFS). XPath, XPointer, XLink.
3. Query languages: Path expressions (regular expressions, evaluation in graphs), Lorel, UnQL, StruQL, XML-QL, Quilt, XSL. A general-purpose programming language: XDuce (pronounce: "transduce").
4. Schemas: upper-bound, lower-bound schemas, DTDs, XSchema, some theory about reasoning with XML keys.
5. Advanced query analysis: query pruning, query containment (regular path queries with constraints, conjunctive queries with regular expressions, applications to XPath queries).
6. Type-checking: simple inference (YAT), type inference in XDuce, type-checking for k-pebble transformations.
7. XML publishing from relational databases: the issues (virtual/materialized XML views); query composition; optimization of extraction queries; illustration with Experanto, Silkroute.
8. Indexes for semistructured data and XML.
9. XML storage: ternary relations, schema-based, data-based.
10. Miscellaneous: data mining in semistructured data, XML compression, incomplete information.

Requirements

	Department of Computer Science & Engineering University of Washington Box 352350 Seattle, WA  98195-2350 (206) 543-1695 voice, (206) 543-2969 FAX [comments to gerome]