A new method of programming, called relational programming, is introduced. This is a style of programming in which entire relations are manipulated rather than individual data. This is analogous to functional programming, wherein entire functions are the value manipulated by the operators. Because of its ability to manipulate complex data structures other than lists, relational programming seems to have distinct advantages over other very high level languages. This paper introduces the basic concepts of relational programming and a preliminary notation for expressing them; it does not define a programming language, per se. (Author).