  We describe Query Defunctionalization which enables off-the-shelf first-order
database engines to process queries over first-class functions. Support for
first-class functions is characterized by the ability to treat functions like
regular data items that can be constructed at query runtime, passed to or
returned from other (higher-order) functions, assigned to variables, and stored
in persistent data structures. Query defunctionalization is a non-invasive
approach that transforms such function-centric queries into the data-centric
operations implemented by common query processors. Experiments with XQuery and
PL/SQL database systems demonstrate that first-order database engines can
faithfully and efficiently support the expressive "functions as data" paradigm.
