Abstract
Specialization is an abstract concept which expresses the IS-A relationship while inheritance is a mechanism which implements specialization. Our experiences in extended entity-relationship DBMSs and object-oriented DBMSs have shown that specialization can be implemented by several mechanisms. We propose in this paper a mechanism which is more flexible than inheritance with respect to object dynamics and schema evolution. In our “hologram” approach, an object is implemented by multiple instances which represent its many faceted nature. Those instances are linked together through aggregation links in a specialization hierarchy. Objects are dynamic since they can migrate between the classes of a hierarchy. Attributes and methods are not inherited but reached by navigating in a specialization hierarchy. Class views provide customized interfaces of classes. Our approach makes schema changes more pertinent and easier to understand.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adiba M., Collet C., Objets et bases de données: le SGBD O2, Hermès, 1993.
Albano A., Bergamini R., Ghelli G., Orsini R., An object Data Model with Roles, Proc. Int. Conf. on Very Large Data Bases, VLDB, Dublin 1993.
Al-Jadir L., Léonard M., Multiobjects to Ease Schema Evolution in an OODBMS, Proc. Int. Conf. on Conceptual Modeling, ER, Singapore 1998.
Al-Jadir L., Estier T., Falquet G., Léonard M., Evolution Features of the F2 OODBMS, Proc. Int. Conf. on Database Systems for Advanced Applications, DASFAA, Singapore 1995.
Al-Jadir L., Le Grand A., Léonard M., Parchet O., Contribution to the Evolution of Information Systems, in: Methods and Associated Tools for the Information Systems Lifecycle, A.A. Verrijn-Stuart & T.W. Olle (eds), IFIP, Elsevier, 1994.
Al-Jadir L., Falquet G., Léonard M., Context Versions in an Object-Oriented Model, Proc. Int. Conf. on Database and Expert Systems Applications, DEXA, Prague 1993.
Andany J., Léonard M., Palisser C., Management of Evolution in Databases, Proc. Int. Conf. on Very Large Data Bases, VLDB, Barcelona 1991.
Atkinson M., Bancilhon F., De Witt D., Dittrich K., Maier D., Zdonik S., The Object-Oriented Database System Manifesto, Proc. Int. Conf. on Deductive and Object-Oriented Databases, DOOD, Kyoto 1989.
Banerjee J., Kim W., Kim H-J., Korth H.F., Semantics and Implementation of Schema Evolution in Object-Oriented Databases, Proc. Int. Conf. on Management Of Data, ACM SIGMOD, San Francisco 1987.
Bertino E., A View Mechanism for Object-Oriented Databases, Proc. Int. Conf. on Extending Database Technology, EDBT, Vienna 1992.
Bertino E., Jajodia S., Modeling Multilevel Entities Using Single Level Objects, Proc. Int. Conf. on Deductive and Object-Oriented Databases, DOOD, Phoenix 1993.
Carré B., Geib J-M., The Point of View Notion for Multiple Inheritance, Proc. Conf. on Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages and Applications, OOPSLA, Ottawa 1990.
Falquet G., Interrogation de bases de données á l’aide d’un modèle sémantique, Ph.D. thesis, Faculty of Sciences, University of Geneva, 1989.
Ferrandina F., Meyer T., Zicari R., Ferran G., Madec J., Schema and Database Evolution in the O2 Object Database System, Proc. Int. Conf. on Very Large Data Bases, VLDB, Zürich 1995.
Hauck F.J., Inheritance Modeled with Explicit Bindings: An Approach to Typed Inheritance, Proc. Conf. on Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages and Applications, OOPSLA, Washington 1993.
Hürsch W.L., Should Superclasses be Abstract ?, Proc. European Conf. on Object-Oriented Programming, ECOOP, Bologna 1994.
Junet M., Falquet G., Léonard M., ECRINS/86: An Extended Entity-Relationship Data Base Management System and its Semantic Query Language, Proc. Int. Conf. on Very Large Data Bases, VLDB, Kyoto 1986.
Kambayashi Y., Peng Z., Object Deputy Model and Its Applications, Proc. Int. Conf. on Database Systems for Advanced Applications, DASFAA, Singapore 1995.
Kim W., Introduction to Object-Oriented Databases, MIT Press, 1990.
Kuno H.A., Ra Y-G., Rundensteiner E.A., The Object-Slicing Technique: A Flexible Object Representation and Its Evaluation, Technical Report, CSE-TR-241-95, University of Michigan, 1995.
Kuno H.A., Rundensteiner E.A., Implementation Experience with Building an Object-Oriented View Management System, Technical Report, University of Michigan, 1993.
Lerner B.S., Habermann A.N., Beyond Schema Evolution to Database Reorganization, Proc. Conf. on Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages and Applications, OOPSLA, Ottawa 1990.
Ling T.W., Teo P.K., Object Migration in ISA Hierarchies, Proc. Int. Conf. on Database Systems for Advanced Applications, DASFAA, Singapore 1995.
Morsi M.M.A., Navathe S.B., Kim H-J., A Schema Management and Prototyping Interface for an Object-Oriented Database Environment, in: Object Oriented Approach in I.S., F. Van Assche & B. Moulin & C. Rolland (eds), IFIP, North-Holland, 1991.
Nguyen G.T., Rieu D., Escamilla J., An Object Model for Engineering Design, Proc. European Conf. on Object-Oriented Programming, ECOOP, Utrecht 1992.
Odberg E., Category Classes: Flexible Classification and Evolution in Object-Oriented Databases, Proc. Int. Conf. on Advanced Information Systems Engineering, CAISE, Utrecht 1994.
Penney D.J., Stein J., Class Modification in the GemStone Object-Oriented DBMS, Proc. Conf. on Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages and Applications, OOPSLA, Orlando 1987.
Pernici B., Objects with Roles, Proc. IEEE Conf. on Office Information Systems, 1990.
Peters R.J., Özsu M.T., An Axiomatic Model of Dynamic Schema Evolution in Objectbase Systems, ACM Transactions on Database Systems, vol. 22, no 1, march 1997.
Richardson J., Schwarz P., Aspects: Extending Objects to Support Multiple, Independent Roles, Proc. Int. Conf. on Management Of Data, ACM SIGMOD, Denver 1991.
Sciore E., Object Specialization, ACM Transactions on Information Systems, vol. 7, no 2, april 1989.
Skarra A.H., Zdonik S.B., Type Evolution in an Object-Oriented Database, in: Research Directions in OO Programming, B. Shriver & P. Wegner (eds), MIT Press, 1987.
Smith J.M., Smith D.C.P., Database Abstractions: Aggregation and Generalization, ACM Transactions on Database Systems, vol. 2, no 2, june 1977.
Stace C., Plant taxonomy and biosystematics, 2nd edition, Edward Arnold, 1989.
Tresch M., A Framework for Schema Evolution by Meta Object Manipulation, Proc. Int. Workshop on Foundations of Models and Languages for Data and Objects, Aigen 1991.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Al-Jadir, L., Léonard, M. (1999). If We Refuse the Inheritance. In: Bench-Capon, T.J., Soda, G., Tjoa, A.M. (eds) Database and Expert Systems Applications. DEXA 1999. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1677. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48309-8_52
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-48309-8_52
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-66448-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48309-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive