CONSTRUCTS FOR A NON PROCEDURAL OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE MANIPULATION LANGUAGE OSQL/N

Abstract

Constructs for an object-oriented non procedural data base manipulation language called OSQL/N are presented. The major feature is that the language allows for conditional manipulation of an object together with a quantified set of its related objects. The constructs required for this were borrowed from a language called SQL/N, which is implicitly object-oriented, but which was originally developed as an attempt at a more natural relational data base language. The constructs behind SQL/N are much more suited to object-oriented data bases, and the OSQL/N language structure, as a result, allows for incorporation of the whole array of quantifiers that are commonly used in natural language, that is, the natural quantifiers.