Interpretation of Tabular Expressions Using Arrays of Relations

Tabular expressions are a means to represent the complex relations that are used to specify or document software systems. We show how a simple and powerful algebra of arrays of relations can be used to give a semantics to tabular expressions. This opens up the door to new types of tabular expressions and, more importantly, brings a set of algebraic laws for the manipulation of tables. The algebra we present is based on the fact that matrices of relations are themselves relations to which the usual relational operators can be applied, in addition to array operators.