Association patterns for data modeling and definition

摘要

Association patterns provide guidance for modeling the associations that occur among objects within both the real world and the solution domains of computer applications. The patterns help the designer better understand and more precisely define the semantics of these associations, which allows them to be more easily and properly implemented. This paper describes a number of association patterns using Object Relationship Notation (ORN) and by doing so provides evidence for the effectiveness of this notation. It also shows how the development of database systems can be improved by an approach that uses association patterns to build a database model and then implements the model by mapping it to an ORN-extended database definition that is supported by a DBMS. The feasibility of this approach and the applicability of our association patterns have been validated by DBMS research prototypes and by the modeling, implementing, and testing of numerous associations.