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ODM: An object oriented data model

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Abstract

ODM is a new data model thatintegrates the features of object oriented programming languages (e.g. Smalltalk-80) and Relational Data Model (RDM). It extends the data structures and operations of RDM and also provides the features of object oriented programming such as improved semantics, data abstraction, reusability of data structures and codes, and extensibility.

We have introduced the concept of ‘u-set’ (uniform set) as an extension of relation of RDM. We employ messages to define an extension of RDM attributes and tuples. Definition of classes for databases, u-sets, and tuples allows us to define new (or modify existing) operations for the databases, u-sets, or tuples. Each database and its elements are u-sets.

Au-set is a set of elements ‘conformable’ to a fixed class, namely the ‘base class’ of the u-set. This roughly means that all elements of a u-set support the operations defined in its base class, but they need not have identical data structures. The base class may be any class, the elements of a u-set are not necessarily tuples. This provides an arbitrary deep hierarchy of tuples, u-sets and databases. In particular set-valued, tuple-valued, and derived attributes are supported, and an element of a u-set may be another u-set.

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  1. Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, 060, Sapporo, Japan

    Mojtaba Mozaffari & Yuzuru Tanaka

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  1. Mojtaba Mozaffari
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  2. Yuzuru Tanaka
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Mozaffari, M., Tanaka, Y. ODM: An object oriented data model. New Gener Comput 7, 3–35 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03037506

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