A framework for programming multiversion databases

Multiversion databases allow to represent in a database several states, or versions, of the real world entities. To take into account the new dimensio n introduced by versioning, new operations must be added to conventional da tabase programming languages. In this paper, we describe such operations ac cording to the DataBase Version (DBV) model, which allows an efficient mana gement of as many versions as needed. Operations are first presented intuit ively, then formal definitions of their syntax and their semantics is given . The work presented is considered as a syntactical framework for the devel opment of sophisticated tools for design applications and configuration man agement. Special attention is paid to operations on complex object versions . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.