Mobile natural language database interface for accessing relational data

Abstract

Information is constantly being stored and retrieved, from searching through and narrowing down millions of items on Amazon to uploading posts on Facebook. Without databases, information could not be as easily shared and found. Most users are only able to search keywords to find information in a database or are not given many options to find the information they need. In order to directly access and manage a database, SQL, Structured Query Language, is needed. Of course, most users are not technically savvy and are not familiar with the syntax of SQL. The best way seems to be if users were able to ask a question naturally in their own native language and have SQL statements, CRUD operations, like insert, update, etc. generated from that initial question or statement. Therefore, using natural language instead of SQL, a non-technical user could easily manipulate a database, or a certain view of a database, while not being time-consuming. The contribution of this work is to take the idea of Natural Language, apply it to databases, and examine the advantages and disadvantages of creating a new, lightweight, Natural Language Database Interface.