Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Database Systems pp 2479–2481Cite as

Schema Evolution

  • Reference work entry

Definition

Schema evolution deals with the need to retain current data when database schema changes are performed. Formally, Schema Evolution is accommodated when a database system facilitates database schema modification without the loss of existing data, (q.v. the stronger concept of Schema Versioning) (Schema evolution and schema versioning has been conflated in the literature with the two terms occasionally being used interchangeably. Readers are thus also encouraged to read also the entry for Schema Versioning.).

Historical Background

Since schemata change and/or multiple schemata are often required, there is a need to ensure that extant data either stays consistent with the revised schema or is explicitly deleted as part of the change process. A database that supports schema evolution supports this transformation process.

The first schema evolutioning proposals discussed database conversion primarily in terms of a set of transformations from one schema to another [10]. These...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   2,500.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Recommended Reading

  1. Bancilhon F. and Spyratos N. Update semantics of relational views. ACM Trans. Database Syst., 6(4):557–575, 1981.

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Bretl R., Maier D., Otis A., Penney J., Schuchardt B., Stein J., Williams E.H., and Williams M. The GemStone data management system. In Object-Oriented Concepts, Databases and Applications. W. Kim and F. Lochovsky (eds.). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1989, pp. 283–308.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Hick J.M. and Hainaut J.L. Database application evolution: a transformational approach. Data Knowl. Eng., 59(3): 534–558, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Hull R. Relative information capacity of simple relational database schemata. Soc. Ind. Appl. Math., 15(3):856–886, 1986.

    MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  5. Kim W. and Chou H.T. Versions of schema for object-oriented databases. In Proc. 24th Int. Conf. on Very Large Data Bases, 1988, pp. 148–159.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Melnik S., Rahm E., and Bernstein P.A. Rondo: a programming platform for generic model management. In Proc. ACM SIGMOD Int. Conf. on Management of Data, 2003, pp. 193–204.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Miller R., Ioannidis Y., and Ramakrishnan R. The use of information capacity in schema integration and translation. In Proc. 19th Int. Conf. on Very Large Data Bases, 1993, pp. 120–133.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Ra Y.G. and Rundensteiner E.A. A transparent schema-evolution system based on object-oriented viewtechnology. IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng., 9(4):600–624, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Roddick J.F. SQL/SE – a query language extension for databases supporting schema evolution. ACM SIGMOD Rec., 21(3):10–16, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Shneiderman B. and Thomas G. An architecture for automatic relational database system conversion. ACM Trans. Database Syst., 7(2):235–257, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Sjøberg D. Quantifying schema evolution. Inf. Softw. Technol., 35(1):35–44, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Tan L. and Katayama T. Meta operations for type management in object-oriented databases – a lazy mechanism for schema evolution. In Proc. First Int. Conf. on Deductive and Object-Oriented Databases, 1989, pp. 241–258.

    Google Scholar 

  13. de Vries D. and Roddick J.F. The case for mesodata: an empirical investigation of an evolving database system. Inf. Softw. Technol., 49(9–10):1061–1072, 2007.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    John F. Roddick

Authors
  1. John F. Roddick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 266 Ferst Drive, 30332-0765, Atlanta, GA, USA

    LING LIU (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Database Research Group David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, ON, Canada

    M. TAMER ÖZSU (Professor and Director, University Research Chair) (Professor and Director, University Research Chair)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this entry

Cite this entry

Roddick, J.F. (2009). Schema Evolution. In: LIU, L., ÖZSU, M.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-39940-9_1532

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation