Object, Relational and Object/Relational

by Chris Date

Description

We've been hearing about objects and object DBMSs for several yeras now. Over the last couple of years, we've begun to hear about a newer kind of DBMS: the so-called object/relational DBMS (also known as a universal server).Object/Relational DBMSs are supposed to combine the traditional benefits of relational systems with the ability to deal with complex data -- a kind of "one size fits all" solution to the database management problem.
So what exactly are object and object/relational DBMSs all about? This indepth, technical seminar discusses this question in considerable detail. It begins by explaining the fundamental concepts and terminology of objects and object DBMSs, and decsribes at some length what is involved in using such a DBMS.
It offers opinions on a number of important issues, such as the question of support for integrity constrains. It introduces The Third Manifesto, a detailed and comprehensive proposal for integrating object and relational technology to form an "object/relational" system (in particular, it shows that there's a righr way and a wrong way of doing the job).
And it discusses the important and subtle topic of inheritance at some lenght.

Main Topics

1. Object database systems: fundamentals
   • Preliminaries
   • Shortcomings in today's SQL products
   • Basic OODB concepts
   • A cradle-to-grave example
   • Further concepts and issues
2. Object database systems: analysis
   • OODB review and assessment
   • A close look at object IDs
   • Is the object model a data model?
   • Concluding remarks
3. Object/relational database systems:
   • Introducing The Third Manifesto
   • Preliminaries
   • Relations vs. relvars
   • Domains vs. classes
   • Relvars vs. classes
   • A close look at the Manifesto
   • Concluding remarks
4. Type inheritance
   • Preliminaries
   • The basic idea
   • Polymorphism and substitutability
   • Some implications of these ideas
   • Mutability
   • Some questions
   • Appendixes
5. A survey of the landscape
   • The OO database System Manifesto
   • Third Generation Database System Manifesto
   • Stonebraker's "next great wave"
   • SQL3
   • ODMG
   • Closing remarks