Combining object-oriented and relational models of data
R. G. G. Cattell, T. R. Rogers · 1986
In the enthusiasm to incorporate object-oriented semantic capabilities into database systems, we would like to see that the traditional strengths of database systems are not lost. Relational database systems permit many simultaneous users, large quantities of data, data independence, powerful query languages, and a host of user interface support tools. Object-oriented programming languages lack these features, but provide other valuable abstractions and capabilities. We propose an integration of the popular relational and object-oriented models of data, in an extended entity-relationship database system that provides operations on individual objects and relational operations in a compatible framework. We will describe our experience with a database system that already provides many of these features.