ODÉON: An object-oriented data model and its integration in the Oberon system
Jacques Supcik · Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) · 1999
Information, whatever its nature or its form, is an essential element of our society.However, this information is only useful if we are able to communicate it to other people and, above all, if we can store it in order to benefit the future generations.During these past years, the Internet has contributed to the evolution of our means of communication in a considerable way; on the other hand, little progress has been made with regard to the long-term storage of this information.This dissertation proposes a different approach to the problem of storing information thanks to a new database management system: Odéon.This system is built on a modern data model, which can represent not only information, but also the evolution of this information over the course of time.Indeed, we know that the data we want to manage often has a very great lifespan.We also know that this data is not static, but that it evolves over time.The identity of an object will not change, but its role, its classification and its attributes will change.Evolution is a significant aspect of information.However, few relational or object oriented models are able to deal with it in a simple and efficient way.The Odéon system proposes an effective solution to this problem.In addition to evolution, we pay great attention to the speed and the efficiency of Odéon.The resulting system has excellent performance due to the Oberon language (in which Odéon has been entirely implemented), the effective use of the system's resources, and the persistent store adapted to our model.