Using Natural Language Descriptions To Improve The Usability Of Databases

This paper describes the REGIS extended co~nd language, a relational data fan&c/age that allows users to name and describe database objects using natural language phrases. REGIS accepts multlple-word phrases as the names of tables and columns (unlike most systems, which restrict these names to a few characters). An extended command parser uses a networkstructured dictionary to recognize multl-word names, even if some of the words are missing or out of order, and to prompt the user if an ambiguous name is entered. REGIS also provides facilities for attaching descriptive text to database objects, which can be displayed online or included in printed reports. Initial data from a few databases indicate that users choose to take advantage of the naturalness of multl-word descriptions when this option is available.