Towards an object-centered database language
Martin L. Kersten, Frans H. Schippers · Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands · 1986
In this report we discuss ongoing research in the area of object-oriented database systems at the CWI. The central theme of this paper is the friction encountered when using an object-oriented (O-O) language, such as Smalltalk, in the database arena. A series of (open) database issues is given for which the object-oriented paradigm does not provide an elegant solution. A refinement of the O-O concepts is given which emphasizes the dynamic classification of objects through its characteristic properties. Our approach is illustrated by a description of the object-centered database language Godel and its use. A central language concept is the guardian, which is a high-level declarative description of a process which algorithmically reacts to states and to state changes of an object base. A prototype implementation of Godel has been implemented in C-Prolog.