Rel: A Programming Language for Relational Data

Molham Aref; Paolo Guagliardo; George Kastrinis; Leonid Libkin; Victor Marsault; Wim Martens; Mary Mcgrath; Filip Murlak; Nathaniel Nystrom; Liat Peterfreund; Allison Rogers; Cristina Sirangelo; Domagoj Vrgoc; David Zhao; Abdul Zreika

doi:10.1145/3722212.3724450

Rel: A Programming Language for Relational Data

Molham Aref
, Paolo Guagliardo
, George Kastrinis
, Leonid Libkin
, Victor Marsault
, Wim Martens
, Mary Mcgrath
, Filip Murlak
, Nathaniel Nystrom
, Liat Peterfreund
, Allison Rogers
, Cristina Sirangelo
, Domagoj Vrgoc
, David Zhao
, Abdul Zreika

The Rachel and Selim Benin School of Engineering and Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

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 whose key design goal is to go 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 the main features of Rel: those that give it the power to express traditional query language operations and those that are designed to grow the language and allow programming in the large.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	SIGMOD-Companion 2025 - Companion of the 2025 International Conference on Management of Data
Editors	Amol Deshpande, Ashraf Aboulnaga, Babak Salimi, Badrish Chandramouli, Bill Howe, Boon Thau Loo, Boris Glavic, Carlo Curino, Daisy Zhe Wang, Dan Suciu, Daniel Abadi, Divesh Srivastava, Eugene Wu, Faisal Nawab, Ihab Ilyas, Jeffrey Naughton, Jennie Rogers, Jignesh Patel, Joy Arulraj, Jun Yang, Karima Echihabi, Kenneth Ross, Khuzaima Daudjee, Laks Lakshmanan, Minos Garofalakis, Mirek Riedewald, Mohamed Mokbel, Mourad Ouzzani, Oliver Kennedy, Oliver Kennedy, Paolo Papotti, Peter Alvaro, Peter Bailis, Renee Miller, Senjuti Basu Roy, Sergey Melnik, Stratos Idreos, Sudeepa Roy, Theodoros Rekatsinas, Viktor Leis, Wenchao Zhou, Wolfgang Gatterbauer, Zack Ives
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	283-296
Number of pages	14
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400715648
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3722212.3724450
State	Published - 22 Jun 2025
Event	2025 ACM SIGMOD/PODS International Conference on Management of Data, SIGMOD-Companion 2025 - Berlin, Germany Duration: 22 Jun 2025 → 27 Jun 2025

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data
ISSN (Print)	0730-8078

Conference

Conference	2025 ACM SIGMOD/PODS International Conference on Management of Data, SIGMOD-Companion 2025
Country/Territory	Germany
City	Berlin
Period	22/06/25 → 27/06/25

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 ACM.

Keywords

graph normal form
impedance mismatch
programming in the large
query language design
relational data model
relational knowledge graph
relational programming

Access to Document

10.1145/3722212.3724450License: CC BY

Cite this

Aref, M., Guagliardo, P., Kastrinis, G., Libkin, L., Marsault, V., Martens, W., Mcgrath, M., Murlak, F., Nystrom, N., Peterfreund, L., Rogers, A., Sirangelo, C., Vrgoc, D., Zhao, D., & Zreika, A. (2025). Rel: A Programming Language for Relational Data. In A. Deshpande, A. Aboulnaga, B. Salimi, B. Chandramouli, B. Howe, B. T. Loo, B. Glavic, C. Curino, D. Zhe Wang, D. Suciu, D. Abadi, D. Srivastava, E. Wu, F. Nawab, I. Ilyas, J. Naughton, J. Rogers, J. Patel, J. Arulraj, J. Yang, K. Echihabi, K. Ross, K. Daudjee, L. Lakshmanan, M. Garofalakis, M. Riedewald, M. Mokbel, M. Ouzzani, O. Kennedy, O. Kennedy, P. Papotti, P. Alvaro, P. Bailis, R. Miller, S. B. Roy, S. Melnik, S. Idreos, S. Roy, T. Rekatsinas, V. Leis, W. Zhou, W. Gatterbauer, ... Z. Ives (Eds.), SIGMOD-Companion 2025 - Companion of the 2025 International Conference on Management of Data (pp. 283-296). (Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3722212.3724450

Aref, Molham ; Guagliardo, Paolo ; Kastrinis, George et al. / Rel : A Programming Language for Relational Data. SIGMOD-Companion 2025 - Companion of the 2025 International Conference on Management of Data. editor / Amol Deshpande ; Ashraf Aboulnaga ; Babak Salimi ; Badrish Chandramouli ; Bill Howe ; Boon Thau Loo ; Boris Glavic ; Carlo Curino ; Daisy Zhe Wang ; Dan Suciu ; Daniel Abadi ; Divesh Srivastava ; Eugene Wu ; Faisal Nawab ; Ihab Ilyas ; Jeffrey Naughton ; Jennie Rogers ; Jignesh Patel ; Joy Arulraj ; Jun Yang ; Karima Echihabi ; Kenneth Ross ; Khuzaima Daudjee ; Laks Lakshmanan ; Minos Garofalakis ; Mirek Riedewald ; Mohamed Mokbel ; Mourad Ouzzani ; Oliver Kennedy ; Oliver Kennedy ; Paolo Papotti ; Peter Alvaro ; Peter Bailis ; Renee Miller ; Senjuti Basu Roy ; Sergey Melnik ; Stratos Idreos ; Sudeepa Roy ; Theodoros Rekatsinas ; Viktor Leis ; Wenchao Zhou ; Wolfgang Gatterbauer ; Zack Ives. Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. pp. 283-296 (Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data).

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title = "Rel: A Programming Language for Relational Data",

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 whose key design goal is to go 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 the main features of Rel: those that give it the power to express traditional query language operations and those that are designed to grow the language and allow programming in the large.",

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Aref, M, Guagliardo, P, Kastrinis, G, Libkin, L, Marsault, V, Martens, W, Mcgrath, M, Murlak, F, Nystrom, N, Peterfreund, L, Rogers, A, Sirangelo, C, Vrgoc, D, Zhao, D & Zreika, A 2025, Rel: A Programming Language for Relational Data. in A Deshpande, A Aboulnaga, B Salimi, B Chandramouli, B Howe, BT Loo, B Glavic, C Curino, D Zhe Wang, D Suciu, D Abadi, D Srivastava, E Wu, F Nawab, I Ilyas, J Naughton, J Rogers, J Patel, J Arulraj, J Yang, K Echihabi, K Ross, K Daudjee, L Lakshmanan, M Garofalakis, M Riedewald, M Mokbel, M Ouzzani, O Kennedy, O Kennedy, P Papotti, P Alvaro, P Bailis, R Miller, SB Roy, S Melnik, S Idreos, S Roy, T Rekatsinas, V Leis, W Zhou, W Gatterbauer & Z Ives (eds), SIGMOD-Companion 2025 - Companion of the 2025 International Conference on Management of Data. Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 283-296, 2025 ACM SIGMOD/PODS International Conference on Management of Data, SIGMOD-Companion 2025, Berlin, Germany, 22/06/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3722212.3724450

Rel: A Programming Language for Relational Data. / Aref, Molham; Guagliardo, Paolo; Kastrinis, George et al.
SIGMOD-Companion 2025 - Companion of the 2025 International Conference on Management of Data. ed. / Amol Deshpande; Ashraf Aboulnaga; Babak Salimi; Badrish Chandramouli; Bill Howe; Boon Thau Loo; Boris Glavic; Carlo Curino; Daisy Zhe Wang; Dan Suciu; Daniel Abadi; Divesh Srivastava; Eugene Wu; Faisal Nawab; Ihab Ilyas; Jeffrey Naughton; Jennie Rogers; Jignesh Patel; Joy Arulraj; Jun Yang; Karima Echihabi; Kenneth Ross; Khuzaima Daudjee; Laks Lakshmanan; Minos Garofalakis; Mirek Riedewald; Mohamed Mokbel; Mourad Ouzzani; Oliver Kennedy; Oliver Kennedy; Paolo Papotti; Peter Alvaro; Peter Bailis; Renee Miller; Senjuti Basu Roy; Sergey Melnik; Stratos Idreos; Sudeepa Roy; Theodoros Rekatsinas; Viktor Leis; Wenchao Zhou; Wolfgang Gatterbauer; Zack Ives. Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. p. 283-296 (Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

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AU - Aref, Molham

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AU - Libkin, Leonid

AU - Marsault, Victor

AU - Martens, Wim

AU - Mcgrath, Mary

AU - Murlak, Filip

AU - Nystrom, Nathaniel

AU - Peterfreund, Liat

AU - Rogers, Allison

AU - Sirangelo, Cristina

AU - Vrgoc, Domagoj

AU - Zhao, David

AU - Zreika, Abdul

PY - 2025/6/22

Y1 - 2025/6/22

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KW - graph normal form

KW - impedance mismatch

KW - programming in the large

KW - query language design

KW - relational data model

KW - relational knowledge graph

KW - relational programming

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105010225342

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A2 - Deshpande, Amol

A2 - Aboulnaga, Ashraf

A2 - Salimi, Babak

A2 - Chandramouli, Badrish

A2 - Howe, Bill

A2 - Loo, Boon Thau

A2 - Glavic, Boris

A2 - Curino, Carlo

A2 - Zhe Wang, Daisy

A2 - Suciu, Dan

A2 - Abadi, Daniel

A2 - Srivastava, Divesh

A2 - Wu, Eugene

A2 - Nawab, Faisal

A2 - Ilyas, Ihab

A2 - Naughton, Jeffrey

A2 - Rogers, Jennie

A2 - Patel, Jignesh

A2 - Arulraj, Joy

A2 - Yang, Jun

A2 - Echihabi, Karima

A2 - Ross, Kenneth

A2 - Daudjee, Khuzaima

A2 - Lakshmanan, Laks

A2 - Garofalakis, Minos

A2 - Riedewald, Mirek

A2 - Mokbel, Mohamed

A2 - Ouzzani, Mourad

A2 - Kennedy, Oliver

A2 - Papotti, Paolo

A2 - Alvaro, Peter

A2 - Bailis, Peter

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A2 - Roy, Senjuti Basu

A2 - Melnik, Sergey

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A2 - Roy, Sudeepa

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Aref M, Guagliardo P, Kastrinis G, Libkin L, Marsault V, Martens W et al. Rel: A Programming Language for Relational Data. In Deshpande A, Aboulnaga A, Salimi B, Chandramouli B, Howe B, Loo BT, Glavic B, Curino C, Zhe Wang D, Suciu D, Abadi D, Srivastava D, Wu E, Nawab F, Ilyas I, Naughton J, Rogers J, Patel J, Arulraj J, Yang J, Echihabi K, Ross K, Daudjee K, Lakshmanan L, Garofalakis M, Riedewald M, Mokbel M, Ouzzani M, Kennedy O, Kennedy O, Papotti P, Alvaro P, Bailis P, Miller R, Roy SB, Melnik S, Idreos S, Roy S, Rekatsinas T, Leis V, Zhou W, Gatterbauer W, Ives Z, editors, SIGMOD-Companion 2025 - Companion of the 2025 International Conference on Management of Data. Association for Computing Machinery. 2025. p. 283-296. (Proceedings of the ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data). doi: 10.1145/3722212.3724450

Rel: A Programming Language for Relational Data

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Keywords

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