A Comparison of Database Query Languages: SQL, SPARQL, CQL, DMX

Abstract

In this paper, a comprehensive study of four database query languages has been provided. As we know, there are various types of database servers which store data in a format that is suited for particular needs for example, web servers are storing data in the form of web pages and online shopping database servers are storing data in the form of relational tables and if we go further to the linked data, facts are stored in the form of graphs. There are different types of database systems suiting different needs therefore multiple query languages designed to query appropriate databases are required to have some common properties and some special characteristics to fulfill purpose of their creation. For example queries for relational databases must have an appropriate mechanism to get data from multiple tables and languages which retrieve web pages must be able to provide ranking. This paper is an attempt to look closely and compare the essential common and special characteristics of widely query languages: SQL, SPARQL, CQL and DMX.