A
Deductive database is a
database system that can make
deductions (i.e., conclude additional facts) based on and
facts stored in the (deductive) database.
Datalog is the language typically used to specify facts, rules and queries in deductive databases. Deductive databases have grown out of the desire to combine
logic programming with
relational databases to construct systems that support a powerful formalism and are still fast and able to deal with very large datasets. Deductive databases are more expressive than relational databases but less
expressive than logic programming systems. In recent years, deductive databases such as Datalog have found new application in data integration,
information extraction, networking, program analysis, security, and cloud computing.