Date of Award

12-1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Dawn A. Guido, Capt., USAF

Abstract

Despite the impressive accomplishments in relational database research, greater support is needed for persistence of the new types of data encountered with object-oriented programming. The concept of object-orientation is not new in the realm of programming; however, its utilization in database management systems is still immature. Regardless of this fact, there is an urgency for object-oriented database technology. With this increase in demand for the next generation databases comes the need to examine object-oriented data modeling versus the conventional entity-relationship modeling of relational database design. This thesis objective is to analyze both paradigms to determine if object-oriented modeling can significantly improve Department of Defense systems. After analyzing the entity-relationship paradigm and a representation of object-oriented modeling techniques we see a unifying of conceptual models encompassing both application and database development. Object-orientation's higher level of abstraction enables modeling of all problem domains and provides a common language between developer and client. The critical issue in adoption of the object-oriented paradigm becomes not whether to adopt, but how to adopt object-oriented techniques. The benefits of object-oriented technology close the semantic gap by helping the computer to 'see' things our way.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-GCS-ENG-92D-15

DTIC Accession Number

ADA259017

Comments

The author's Vita page is omitted.

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