1. A method, comprising: extracting data spanning a computational interval from a plurality of database tables in an optimized manner comprising one of a table scan, a partition scan, a covering index scan, or a structured query language scan, wherein the data is extracted to perform computations to respond to computation requests; creating an array of each column of data that is extracted; accessing each array via a standardized programmatic interface to manipulate the data; if needed to perform the computations, normalizing the accessed data to a common interval or interpolating the accessed data to derive missing items based on the common interval; performing the computations on the accessed data; and outputting results of the computations to a storage medium or an output device.