Metaclasses and Their Application: Data Model Tailoring and Database Integration

✍ Scribed by Wolfgang Klas, Michael Schrefl (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 211
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science 943
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Conventional object-oriented data models are closed: although they allow users to define application-specific classes, they usually come with a fixed set of modelling primitives. This constitutes a major problem, as different application domains, e.g. database integration or multimedia, need special support.
Using an extended metaclass concept, this book provides for the solution of this problem a simple but extendible open object-oriented data model, a so-called RISC model. By introducing the basic concepts of the open object-oriented database management system VODAK, it demonstrates how the extended metaclass concept can be integrated homogeneously into object-oriented data models.

✦ Table of Contents

Introduction....Pages 1-7
Fundamental principles of object-oriented systems....Pages 8-13
Basic concepts for metaclasses in the object-oriented data model....Pages 14-70
Semantic data modelling....Pages 71-81
Metaclasses for semantic data modelling....Pages 82-122
Object class definition by generalization....Pages 123-149
Metaclasses for object class definition by generalization....Pages 150-171
Metaclasses in other object-oriented systems....Pages 172-177
Conclusion....Pages 178-181

✦ Subjects

Database Management; Programming Languages, Compilers, Interpreters; Data Structures; Artificial Intelligence (incl. Robotics); Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet)