Object Related Plus: A Practical Tool for Developing Enhanced Object Databases

Object Relater Plus is a practical tool currently being used for research and development of enhanced object databases (ODBs). The tool, which is a prototype Object Database Management System (ODBMS), provides two languages that are compatible with the ODMG-93 ODBMS standard yet enhance it in some significant ways. The Object Database Definition Language (ODDL) allows object relationships to be better defined and supported; provides for the specification and separation of external, conceptual, and internal views; and facilitates the implementation of domain specific ODB extensions. The Object Database Manipulation Language (ODML) augments ODDL by providing a C++ interface for database creation, access, and manipulation based on an ODDL specification. In this paper we give an overview of Object Relater Plus, emphasizing its salient features. We also briefly discuss its architecture and implementation and its use in developing scientific databases.