Tobias Müller

Hello, my name is Tobias. I was a PhD student and postdoctoral researcher with the database systems department. You may contact me with interesting business ideas, job offers or questions about our (former) research.

Contact: to.mueller@gmx-topmail.de

Research Interests

We focus on data provenance for SQL. Data provenance is information about the origin and processing history of data.

One field of application is query debugging. Let C be a questionable data item (e.g., a table cell) which has been produced by a SQL query. Using techniques of data provenance, we trace back which input tables, rows and cells have contributed to C in the first place.

Here in Tübingen, we have developed a 2-step approach to provenance analysis based on the separation of concerns principle. This approach isolates i) data values and ii) provenance information from each other. Hence, the provenance derivation carried out in step ii) does not bother with (ordinary) data. Step ii) can put its focus solely on the task of provenance derivation. Advantages are a bigger SQL dialect, more fine-grained data provenance and faster provenance evaluation.

Below, my publication list is provided. You may also have a look at our project page.

Teaching Assistance

2022: MSc-Thesis of Daniel Täsch: How to Optimize What Is Slow in Data Provenance and Why You Should Do It
SS 2021: The Construction of an SASL-Compiler
2021: Forschungsprojekt of Pascal Engel
WS 20/21: SQL is a Programming Language
SS 2020: The Construction of an SASL-Compiler
2020: BSc-Thesis of Pascal Engel: How-Provenance Through Query Rewriting
WS 19/20: Selected Fun Problems of the ACM Programming Contest
WS 18/19: Selected Fun Problems of the ACM Programming Contest
SS 2018: SQL is a Programming Language
2018: BSc-Thesis of Gabriel Paradzik: Language-Level Provenance Analysis of SQL
WS 17/18: SQL is a Programming Language
2017: BSc-Thesis of Martin Lutz: Visualization of How-Provenance
SS 2017: The Construction of an SASL-Compiler
2016: BSc-Thesis of Denis Hirn: Compilation of SQL into KL
WS 16/17: Informatik 1: Exercises
WS 16/17: Selected Fun Problems of the ACM Programming Contest
SS 2016: The Construction of an SASL-Compiler
WS 15/16: Selected Fun Problems of the ACM Programming Contest
SS 2015: The Construction of an SASL-Compiler
2015: BSc-Thesis of Nadejda Ismailova: Development of a Data Provenance Analysis Tool for Python Bytecode
WS 14/15: The MonetDB Column Store Database System
2014: BSc-Thesis of Janek Bettinger: Implementation of a Browser-based Interface for Provenance Analysis
SS 2014: The Construction of an SASL-Compiler
2014: BSc-Thesis of Alexander Schiller: Implementation of an XML to Relational Data Format Conversion Tool
WS 13/14: PostgreSQL Inside Out
2013: BSc-Thesis of Simon Kalt: Instrumentation of Python Bytecode and Symbolic Program Analysis
SS 2013: The Construction of an SASL-Compiler

Academic Degrees

2020: Dr. rer. nat. in computer science; Thesis
2013: Diplom in computer science (similar to a master’s degree); Thesis

Short Biography

Apr 2013 - Feb 2022: Member of the Database Systems department @ University of Tübingen
Apr 2013 - Apr 2020: PhD candidate advised by Torsten Grust
Oct 2006 - Mar 2013: Student of computer science @ University of Tübingen
Oct 2003 - Sep 2006: Student of physics @ University of Tübingen

Funding

2019-2022: DFG-funded research project dedicated to data provenance

2017-2018: 1/2 of a Landesstelle and other sources

2013-2016: Member of the Wissenschaftscampus Tübingen of the cluster Peer Productivity in Web 2.0 Environments. Our cluster consisted of a mix of researchers from the fields of computer science, psychology and economics.

Recent Publications

Data Provenance for Recursive SQL Queries

Tobias Müller • Torsten Grust • Benjamin Dietrich

Proceedings of 14th International Workshop on Theory and Practice of Provenance (TaPP 2022), collocated with SIGMOD 2022, Philadelphia, PA, USA, June 2022.

Learn More PDF