OBJECT ORIENTATION IN MULTIDATABASE SYSTEMS

A multidatabase system (MDBS) is a confederation of preexisting distri buted, heterogeneous, and autonomous database systems. There has been a recent proliferation of research suggesting the application of objec t-oriented techniques to facilitate the complex task of designing and implementing MDBSs. Although this approach seems promising, the lack o f a general framework impedes any further development. The goal of thi s paper is to provide a concrete analysis and categorization of the va rious ways in which object orientation has affected the task of design ing and implementing MDBSs. We identify three dimensions in which the object-oriented paradigm has influenced this task: the general system architecture, the schema architecture, and the heterogeneous transacti on management. Then we provide a classification and a comprehensive an alysis of the issues related to each of the above dimensions. To demon strate the applicability of this analysis, we conclude with a comparat ive review of existing multidatabase systems.