Advanced Database System

Chapter one
 Outlines
 Overview of O-O Concepts
 O-O Identity, Object Structure and Type Constructors
 Encapsulation of Operations, Methods and Persistence
 Type and Class Hierarchies and Inheritance
 Object oriented concepts
Object
 It is a kind of idiom or metaphor that addresses the human psychology and the way
humans perceive the real world and think.
Object Oriented Databases (OODBS)
 It store data together with the appropriate methods for accessing it.
 It enables:
 Complex data types to be stored (e.g. CAD applications)
 A wide range of data types in the same database (e.g. multimedia applications)
 Easier to follow objects through time (e.g. "evolutionary applications")
 Object oriented concepts
Applications of OODBS
 The first areas where OODBMS were widely used were:
 CAD(computer aid design)
 CAM(computer aid manufacturing)
 Now it is increasingly used in:
 Telecommunications
 Healthcare
 Finance
 Multimedia
 Text/document/quality management
 Object oriented concepts
Data is formally represented as instances of one or more relations.
Attribute is a named column of a relation table, representing a “Property.”
Relation is a table:
Tuple is a row of the table, representing a “record.”
 Object Identity
 OO database provides a unique identity to each independent object stored in the
database.
 This unique identity is implemented via a unique, system generated object identifier
(OID)
 The value of OID is not visible to the external user, but it is used:
 Internally by the system to identify each object uniquely and
 To create and manage inter object references
 An object retains its identity even if some or all of the values of variables or definitions
of methods change over time.
 It is a stronger notion of identity than in programming languages or data models not
based on object orientation.
 Object Identity
 OID have two main properties:
 It is immutable: The OID of a particular object should not change
 Each OID can be used only once: Even if an object is removed from the
database its OID should not be assigned to another object.
Object Identity is represented by:
 Value – data value; e.g. primary key value used in relational systems.
 Name – supplied by user; used for variables in procedures.
 Built-in – identity built into data model or programming language.
No user-supplied identifier is required.
Is the form of identity used in object-oriented systems
 Object Structure
 The state (current value) of a complex object may be constructed from other objects (or
other values) by using certain type constructors.
 Formal way of representing complex object is to view each object as a triple (i, c, v)
 i is a unique object identifier (the OID)
 c is a type constructor (an indication of how the object state is constructed)
 v is the object state (current value)
 This model of objects allows arbitrary nesting of the set, list, tuple and other
constructors.
 Object Structure Cont.
Type Constructors
 The data model will typically include several type constructors.
 The three most basic constructors are:
 Atom
 Tuple
 Set
 Other commonly used constructors include list, bag and array.
The atom constructor
 It is used to represent all basic atomic values, such as
 integers
 real numbers
 character strings
 Booleans, and any other basic data types that the system supports directly.
 Object Structure Cont.
Example:
 Encapsulation
 The concept of encapsulation is one of the main characteristics of OO languages and
systems.
 It is related to the concepts of abstract data types and information hiding in
programming language.
 The main idea is to define the behavior of a type of object based on the operations
that can be externally applied to objects of that type.
 The internal structure of the object is hidden and the object is accessible only through
a number of predefined operations
 Operations used to:
 Create (insert) or destroy (delete) objects
 Update object state
 Retrieve parts of the object state, etc…
 Encapsulation Cont.
 The external users of the object are only made aware of the interface of the object type,
which defines the name and arguments (parameters) of each operation.
 Definition of the internal data structures of the object and implementation of the
operation that access these structures.
Signature: is the interface part of each operation.
Method: is implementation of the operation.
 it is invoked by sending a message to the object to execute the corresponding
method.
 For database applications, the requirement that all objects be completely encapsulated is
too stringent.
 So, it divides the structure of an object in to visible and hidden attributes.
 Encapsulation Cont.
Visible attributes
 They are directly accessed for reading by external operators or high-lever query
languages.
Hidden attributes
 They are completely encapsulated and can be accessed only through predefined
operations.
 Inheritance
 Object oriented database system permits the definition of new types based on other
predefined types which leads to type (class) hierarchy.
 Data and functions are organized in a hierarchy
 Objects inherit characteristics and functions of their ancestor objects
 Sharing of data within hierarchy scope supports code reusability
 A mechanism of reusability, the most powerful concept of OO programming
Inheritance
 Inheritance
Example 2:
 Animals:A head and a body, feed
 Mammals:A head and a body, feed + Four legs, sit
 Fish:A head and a body, feed + swim
 Inheritance
 Inheritance allows one class to define as a special case of more general class.
 These special classes are known as subclass, and the more general classes are known as
super classes.
 By default, a subclass inherits all the properties (both state and behavior) of its super
class, and it also defines its own unique properties.
 In addition, a subclass can redefine inherited methods.
 If class B is a subclass of class A, then if class B inherits the characteristics of class A,
every instance of B is automatically an instance of A. however the reverse is not true.
 Inheritance
Type (class) Hierarchy
 It classifies entities into subclasses.
 Two types of hierarchy:
1. Specialization-Process of specifying subclasses of an entity set (superclass)
sharing some characteristics. Superclass is defined first followed by subclasses.
2. Generalization – Opposite of specialisation. Define first subclasses
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