Unifying and Generalizing Relations in Role-Based Data Modeling and Navigation

Report (2014)
Department
Software Computer Technology (EEMCS) (TU Delft)
Copyright: Software Engineering Research Group, Department of Software Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, Delft University of Technology
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Published Date

30-11-2014

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Source:

Technical Report Series TUD-SERG-2014-023

Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Department

Software Computer Technology

Abstract

Object-oriented programming languages support concise navigation of relations represented by references. However, relations are not first-class citizens and bidirectional navigation is not supported. The relational paradigm provides first-class relations, but with bidirectional navigation through verbose queries. We present a systematic analysis of approaches to modeling and navigating relations. By unifying and generalizing the features of these approaches, we developed the design of a data modeling language that features first-class relations, n-ary relations, native multiplicities, bidirectional relations and concise navigation.