An attribute-based file organization for a relational database

A file organization based on the work of Wong and Chiang (12) may be used to store a relational database which comprises several relations. In the proposed storage structure, keywords are defined on domains (other than primary key domains) and used to divide the file into disjoint subsets called Boolean atoms. Tuples in each Boolean atom are stored contiguously and identifiers for each atom are stored in a directory. The actual construction of the atom directory and the storage of the tuples are presented with an example. Procedures for processing queries against the proposed structure are illustrated using sample queries from SQUARE (1). A modification of the structure to accommodate ranges of values as keywords is also indicated.