An overview of production rules in database systems

Database researchers have recognized that integrating a production rules facility into a database system provides a uniform mechanism for a number of advanced database features including integrity constraint enforcement, derived data maintenance, triggers, protection, version control, and others. In addition, a database system with rule processing capabilities provides a useful platform for large and e cient knowledge-base and expert systems. Database systems with production rules are referred to as active database systems, and the eld of active database systems has indeed been active. This paper summarizes current work in active database systems and suggests future research directions. Topics covered include database rule languages, rule processing semantics, and implementation issues.