Introduction to object
oriented data models
Database Administration & Management
Sufa International College
Ahsan Ali
[email protected] 1
Introduction
• Object-oriented databases are a type of database management
system.
• Different database management systems provide additional
functionalities.
• Object-oriented databases add the database functionality to object
programming languages, creating more manageable code bases
Object Database Definition
• An object database is managed by an object
oriented database management system (OODBMS).
• The database combines object-oriented programming concepts with
relational database principles.
• Objects are the basic building block and an instance of a class, where the
type is either built-in or user-defined.
• Classes provide a schema or blueprint for objects, defining the behavior.
• Methods determine the behavior of a class.
• Pointers help access elements of an object database and establish relations
between objects.
Object Database Definition
• The main characteristic of objects in OODBMS is the possibility of user-
constructed types.
• An object created in a project or application saves into a database as is.
• Object-oriented databases directly deal with data as complete objects.
• All the information comes in one instantly available object package instead
of multiple tables.
• In contrast, the basic building blocks of relational databases, such
as PostgreSQL or MySQL, are tables with actions based on logical
connections between the table data.
class task
{
String name;
String status;
Date create_date;
public void update_task(String
status) { ... }
}
Object Database Definition
• These characteristics make object databases suitable for projects with
complex data which require an object-oriented approach to
programming.
• An object-oriented management system provides supported
functionality supplied to object-oriented programming where
complex objects are central.
• This approach unifies attributes and behaviors of data into one entity.
Object-Oriented Programming Concepts
• Object-oriented databases closely relate to object-oriented
programming concepts.
• The four main ideas of object-oriented programming are:
• Polymorphism (the ability of a message to be displayed in more than one form)
• Inheritance (a mechanism where you can to derive a class from another class for a hierarchy)
• Encapsulation(a process of wrapping code and data together into a single unit)
• Abstraction (The process of removing physical, spatial, or temporal details or attributes in the study)
• These four attributes describe the critical characteristics of object-
oriented management systems.
Polymorphism
• Polymorphism is the capability of an object to take multiple forms.
• This ability allows the same program code to work with different data
types.
• Both a car and a bike are able to break, but the mechanism is
different.
• In this example, the action break is a polymorphism.
• The defined action is polymorphic — the result changes depending
on which vehicle performs.
Inheritance
• Inheritance creates a hierarchical relationship between related classes
while making parts of code reusable.
• Defining new types inherits all the existing class fields and methods plus
further extends them.
• The existing class is the parent class, while the child class extends the
parent.
• For example, a parent class called Vehicle will have child
classes Car and Bike.
• Both child classes inherit information from the parent class
and extend the parent class with new information depending on the
vehicle type.
Encapsulation
• Encapsulation is the ability to group data and mechanisms into a
single object to provide access protection.
• Through this process, pieces of information and details of how an
object works are hidden, resulting in data and function security.
• Classes interact with each other through methods without the need
to know how particular methods work.
• As an example, a car has descriptive characteristics and actions. You
can change the color of a car, yet the model or make are examples of
properties that cannot change. A class encapsulates all the car
information into one entity, where some elements are modifiable
while some are not.
Abstraction
• Abstraction is the procedure of representing only the essential data
features for the needed functionality.
• The process selects vital information while unnecessary information stays
hidden.
• Abstraction helps reduce the complexity of modeled data and allows
reusability.
• For example, there are different ways for a computer to connect to the
network.
• A web browser needs an internet connection. However, the connection
type is irrelevant.
• An established connection to the internet represents an abstraction,
whereas the various types of connections represent different
implementations of the abstraction.
Object-Oriented Database Examples
Feature Description
Query Language Language to find objects and retrieve data from the database.
Transparent Ability to use an object-oriented programming language for data
Persistence manipulation.
ACID ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability)transactions guarantee all
Transactions transactions are complete without conflicting changes.
Database Creates a partial replica of the database. Allows access to a database from
Caching program memory instead of a disk.
Recovery Disaster recovery in case of application or system failure.
