Chapter 3. Data Structures

Data structures are often considered the domain of other programming languages, and not of SQL. In this chapter, we show that data structures can also be very useful for modeling problems and implementing algorithms in SQL. To solve a real-world problem, it is often helpful to have a number of abstract data models available. If you can adapt the problem to be solved to an abstract model, the implementation of a solution is usually much easier.

Abstract data structures help you solve problems that otherwise seem complex. In this chapter, we show you how to perform operations on linear structures such as lists, stacks, and queues in SQL. We also show several recipes for working with multidimensional data structures, such as matrices and arrays. Please note that by "multidimensional," we are not referring to OLAP data structures, but to arrays and matrices as programmatic data structures.