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Database description with SDM: a semantic database model

Editor: Robert W. Taylor Authors:

Michael Hammer,

Dennis Mc LeodAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Database Systems (TODS), Volume 6, Issue 3

Pages 351 - 386

https://doi.org/10.1145/319587.319588

Published: 01 September 1981 Publication History

Abstract

SDM is a high-level semantics-based database description and structuring formalism (database model) for databases. This database model is designed to capture more of the meaning of an application environment than is possible with contemporary database models. An SDM specification describes a database in terms of the kinds of entities that exist in the application environment, the classifications and groupings of those entities, and the structural interconnections among them. SDM provides a collection of high-level modeling primitives to capture the semantics of an application environment. By accommodating derived information in a database structural specification, SDM allows the same information to be viewed in several ways; this makes it possible to directly accommodate the variety of needs and processing requirements typically present in database applications. The design of the present SDM is based on our experience in using a preliminary version of it.

SDM is designed to enhance the effectiveness and usability of database systems. An SDM database description can serve as a formal specification and documentation tool for a database; it can provide a basis for supporting a variety of powerful user interface facilities, it can serve as a conceptual database model in the database design process; and, it can be used as the database model for a new kind of database management system.

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Index Terms

Database description with SDM: a semantic database model
1. Information systems
  1. Data management systems
    1. Database design and models

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Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Database Systems

ACM Transactions on Database Systems Volume 6, Issue 3

Sept. 1981

187 pages

ISSN:0362-5915

EISSN:1557-4644

DOI:10.1145/319587

Editor:
Robert W. Taylor
IBM Research Lab, San Jose, CA

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 1981 ACM.

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 September 1981

Published in TODS Volume 6, Issue 3

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