A Comparative Analysis To Validate The Benefits Of Formal Versus Informal Software Model Transformation

In object -oriented development the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is the ISO/IEC standard for modeling language and is supported by major corporations. In relational database development, entity-relationship models have traditionally been use for modeling such systems. Transforming from one notation to another notation is of great importance in developmental environments where this is required. There are several techniques for transforming UML models to object-relational database systems. Prior assessment has been carried out on transforming UML class diagram models to object-oriented relational databases, which yield significant results. One approach to transformation may involve the use of formal (mathematical) techniques, while other approaches may rely on informal techniques to accomplish the transformation. The use of a formal technique to transform may incorporate graph-theory on UML class diagram. An informal technique may be utilized in transforming UML extension mechanisms, to represent object-relational concepts. A prior research effort examined the benefits of two such approaches in transforming UML class diagram models into object-relational database representation. That work, sought to determine the benefits of one approach (formal technique) versus the benefits of the other approach (informal technique), by way of comparative analysis. The researchers drew inferences from the comparative analysis as to the suitability of one approach versus the other on classes of problem domains. The results of such work have to be validated in order for it to become acceptable and its implication applied in software development decision making. In this work there will be an attempt to apply a similar xiv comparative analysis on a model from a different application domain (Kalman Filter Program Representation), from that which was used in the first study an (Airline Flight Reservation System). The goal of this research is to provide validation of the usefulness of this type of comparative analysis

The Kbo Model: Towards A Unified View Of Data, Behaviors, And Messages In Object-oriented Database Systems

One of the most distinguished features of object-oriented databases (OODBs) is their support for users to populate both data and arbitrary behaviors in the same database. Consequently, the increasingly large population of arbitrary behaviors in OODBs demands a database approach to their management and manipulation. Current OODB models offer no capability of managing arbitrary behaviors as meaningful database objects, and thus fail to meet such a demand.;The goal of this research is to unify data, behaviors, and messages into a uniform notion of objects so that a single database approach can be developed to manage and manipulate such objects. The result is a formal object-oriented data model, the KBO model, which integrates data, arbitrary behaviors, and messages into a more general notion called Knowhow-Bearing-Objects --objects that always bear an executable reference called knowhow . Management of such objects is characterized by the mechanisms developed in six coherently related aspects: classification, re-utilization, identification, invocation, composition, and manipulation.;Classification of KBO objects is based on value structures, rather than on signatures or source code. Classes are related through two independent hierarchies: the KIND-OF hierarchy and the REUSE-OF hierarchy. A formal semantics is defined for the two hierarchies and theorems are developed to provide formal mechanisms for their syntactic validation. Identification of KBO objects is based on identities rather than on executable references. Invocation of KBO objects using both identities and values as behavior selectors comes naturally, thus providing the support for both monomorphism and polymorphism. Composition of KBO objects is based on four generic object structures which also imply dynamic semantics. As a result, complex objects can be directly used as complex messages to invoke complex behaviors. Theorems are developed to provide formal mechanisms to ensure the safety and success of complex messages. Manipulation of KBO objects is based on an object algebra, the KBO algebra, which can be used, not only to manipulate traditional data, but also to select, generate, maintain, and apply behaviors, in an associative manner. The properties of the algebra are formally analyzed, and theorems are developed to provide provably correct algebraic transformations

Implementing imperfect information in fuzzy databases

Information in real-world applications is often vague, imprecise and uncertain. Ignoring the inherent imperfect nature of real-world will undoubtedly introduce some deformation of human perception of real-world and may eliminate several substantial information, which may be very useful in several data-intensive applications. In database context, several fuzzy database models have been proposed. In these works, fuzziness is introduced at different levels. Common to all these proposals is the support of fuzziness at the attribute level. This paper proposes first a rich set of data types devoted to model the different kinds of imperfect information. The paper then proposes a formal approach to implement these data types. The proposed approach was implemented within a relational object database model but it is generic enough to be incorporated into other database models.ou

Compensation methods to support cooperative applications: A case study in automated verification of schema requirements for an advanced transaction model

Compensation plays an important role in advanced transaction models, cooperative work and workflow systems. A schema designer is typically required to supply for each transaction another transaction to semantically undo the effects of . Little attention has been paid to the verification of the desirable properties of such operations, however. This paper demonstrates the use of a higher-order logic theorem prover for verifying that compensating transactions return a database to its original state. It is shown how an OODB schema is translated to the language of the theorem prover so that proofs can be performed on the compensating transactions

A logic programming framework for modeling temporal objects

Published versio

Compensation methods to support generic graph editing: A case study in automated verification of schema requirements for an advanced transaction model

Compensation plays an important role in advanced transaction models, cooperative work, and workflow systems. However, compensation operations are often simply written as a^−1 in transaction model literature. This notation ignores any operation parameters, results, and side effects. A schema designer intending to use an advanced transaction model is expected (required) to write correct method code. However, in the days of cut-and-paste, this is much easier said than done. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of using an off-the-shelf theorem prover (also called a proof assistant) to perform automated verification of compensation requirements for an OODB schema. We report on the results of a case study in verification for a particular advanced transaction model that supports cooperative applications. The case study is based on an OODB schema that provides generic graph editing functionality for the creation, insertion, and manipulation of nodes and links

User Defined Types and Nested Tables in Object Relational Databases

Bernadette Byrne, Mary Garvey, ‘User Defined Types and Nested Tables in Object Relational Databases’, paper presented at the United Kingdom Academy for Information Systems 2006: Putting Theory into Practice, Cheltenham, UK, 5-7 June, 2006.There has been much research and work into incorporating objects into databases with a number of object databases being developed in the 1980s and 1990s. During the 1990s the concept of object relational databases became popular, with object extensions to the relational model. As a result, several relational databases have added such extensions. There has been little in the way of formal evaluation of object relational extensions to commercial database systems. In this work an airline flight logging system, a real-world database application, was taken and a database developed using a regular relational database and again using object relational extensions, allowing the evaluation of the relational extensions.Peer reviewe