object-oriented database

Thesaurus

Noun

object-oriented database - a database in which the operations carried out on information items (data objects) are considered part of their definitionhypertext - machine-readable text that is not sequential but is organized so that related items of information are connected; "Let me introduce the word hypertext to mean a body of written or pictorial material interconnected in such a complex way that it could not conveniently be presented or represented on paper"--Ted Nelsoncomputer database, electronic database, electronic information service, on-line database - (computer science) a database that can be accessed by computers

object-oriented database

(database)(OODB) A system offering DBMS facilities in anobject-oriented programming environment. Data is stored asobjects and can be interpreted only using the methodsspecified by its class. The relationship between similarobjects is preserved (inheritance) as are references betweenobjects. Queries can be faster because joins are often notneeded (as in a relational database). This is because anobject can be retrieved directly without a search, byfollowing its object id.

The same programming language can be used for both datadefinition and data manipulation. The full power of thedatabase programming language's type system can be used tomodel data structures and the relationship between thedifferent data items.

Multimedia applications are facilitated because theclass methods associated with the data are responsible forits correct interpretation.

OODBs typically provide better support for versioning. Anobject can be viewed as the set of all its versions. Also,object versions can be treated as full fledged objects. OODBsalso provide systematic support for triggers andconstraints which are the basis of active databases.Most, if not all, object-oriented application programs thathave database needs will benefit from using an OODB.

Ode is an example of an OODB built on C++.

Related to object-oriented database: OODBMS

noun

Words related to object-oriented database

noun a database in which the operations carried out on information items (data objects) are considered part of their definition

Related Words

hypertext
computer database
electronic database
electronic information service
on-line database