AN OBJECT-RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAMMATIC TECHNIQUE FOR OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE DEFINITIONS

Abstract

An object-relationship diagrammatic technique for communicating object-oriented database definitions is proposed and analysed. The technique permits diagrammatic display of objects in terms of system generated object identifiers, simple attributes, collection attributes, and both simple and collection reference attributes. Object-relationship diagrams are meant for final database designs with the OO approach, and are not intended to replace the entity-relationship diagrams commonly used in the early stages of database design. They are intended mainly for ease of communication of complex database structure--particularly the inherently complex relationship aspects of object-oriented database structure--to programmers and others involved in using OO databases.