CRUD-DOM: A Model for Bridging the Gap between the Object-Oriented and the Relational Paradigms

Abstract

Object-oriented programming is the most successful programming paradigm. Relational database management systems are the most successful data storage components. Despite their individual successes and their desirable tight binding, they rely on different points of view about data entailing difficulties on their integration. Some solutions have been proposed to overcome these difficulties, such as Embedded SQL, object/relational mappings (O/RM), language extensions and even Call Level Interfaces (CLI), as JDBC and ADO.NET. In this paper we present a new model aimed at integrating object-oriented languages and relational databases, named CRUD Data Object Model (CRUD-DOM). CRUD-DOM relies on CLI (JDBC) and aims not only at exploring CLI advantages as preserving its performance and SQL expressiveness but also on providing a type state approach for the implementation of the ResultSet interface. The model design aims to facilitate the development of automatic code generation tools. We also present such a tool, called CRUD Manager (CRUD-M), which provides automatic code generation with a complementary support for software maintenance. This paper shows that CRUD-DOM is an effective model to address the aforementioned objectives.