Use of COUNT in SQL

It describes and discusses various general methods of expressing constraints, eventually noting that support for "=" with relation operands is sufficient for completeness. It also notes that every constraint can be expressed as an invocation of IS_EMPTY, where IS_EMPTY(r) is equivalent to r { } = TABLE_DUM. First, though, it gives Example, showing how to use COUNT to test a relation for emptiness. Example here is a direct translation of that one into SQL.

Example: Testing for absence of counterexamples.

CREATE ASSERTION Must_be_enrolled_to_take_exam

CHECK ((SELECT COUNT (*)

FROM EXAM_MARK

WHERE (Student_Id, CourseId ) NOT IN

(SELECT Student_Id, CourseId

FROM IS_ENROLLED_ON ) )

= 0);