Time and Relational Theory provides an in-depth description of temporal database systems, which provide special facilities for storing, querying, and updating historical and future data. Traditionally, database management systems provide little or no special support for temporal data at all. This situation is changing because:

• Cheap storage enables retention of large volumes of historical data in data warehouses
• Users are now faced with temporal data problems, and need solutions
• Temporal features have recently been incorporated into the SQL standard, and vendors have begun to add temporal support to their DBMS products

Based on the groundbreaking text Temporal Data & the Relational Model (Morgan Kaufmann, 2002) and new research led by the authors, Time and Relational Theory is the only book to offer a complete overview of the functionality of a temporal DBMS. Expert authors Nikos Lorentzos, Hugh Darwen, and Chris Date describe an approach to temporal database management that is firmly rooted in classical relational theory and will stand the test of time.

This book covers the SQL:2011 temporal extensions in depth and identifies and discusses the temporal functionality still missing from SQL.