The design and implementation of a flexible object oriented data model for advanced database applications

There has been increasing demands placed on the database technology, in the recent past, for providing support for advanced database applications. These applications are characterised by a large amount of data, varying drastically in data type and format with frequent modifications/alterations to the database schema. One of the key requirements of such applications is the need for flexible data modelling facilities and mechanisms for support of flexible objects. In this thesis, we have proposed a flexible object oriented data model for such applications. The model provides flexibility in conceptual modelling of such applications. A prototype of the model proposed has been implemented under a commercial ODBMS (ObjectStore). A programmatic interface to the facilities provided in the model has also been implemented.