The Enterprise Data Catalog

Appendix. Data Catalog Query Language

The data catalog query language (DCQL) is not in active use in any data catalog. I have created it for this book, intended for usage in the search examples throughout the book. It is a technology-agnostic IRQL designed to create an understanding of how you search for data—while reading this book, for courses on data cataloging (check out searchingfordata.com), and for reference, when you practice searching with your own data catalog. With DCQL you can search in flexible ways, from small, simple search to long, complex search. As I discussed in Chapter 3, data catalogs today already use parts of DCQL-like language, but as a combination of query language commands, operators, and clickable filters—normally not as a complete, distinct query language that end users can write and execute independently of the user interface.

DCQL demonstrates the message of this book: how you organize data defines how you can search it. DCQL makes all the elements that an asset is described with searchable. And voilá: your data catalog is completely searchable in all dimensions. You can search for small groups of assets, clusters of people, relations between concepts—the possibilities are endless!

I describe the actual search commands of DCQL in Table A-1. Those are the elements that are made searchable. Table A-2 shows the Boolean operators that enable you to combine the search commands however you want. Finally, in Table A-3, you find special operators that can ...