DATA DEFINITION AND MAPPING LANGUAGE FOR NUMERICAL DATA BASES.

Numerical data bases arise in many scientific applications to keep track of large sparse and dense matrices. Unlike the many matrix data storage techniques available for incore manipulation, very large matrices are currently limited to a few compact storage schemes on secondary devices, due to the complex underlying data management facilities. This study proposes an approach for generalized numerical database management that would promote physical data independence by relieving users from the need for knowledge of the physical data organization on the secondary devices. The authors approach is to describe each of the storage techniques for dense and sparse matrices by a physical scheme, which encompasses the corresponding access path, the encoding to storage structures, and the file access method. A generalized facility for describing any kind of numerical database and its mapping to storage is provided via nonprocedural Stored-Data Description and Mapping Languages (SDDL and SDML).