Database Management Systems Why One Type Is Preferred and Future Systems

Database Management Systems

Why one Type is Preferred and Future Systems

Melissa Pihonak

Saint Leo University

Object-oriented database management system (ODBMS) vendors were hopeful that future applications would be implemented with pure object-oriented systems (Devarakonda, 2001). While these systems looked promising, they were unable to live up to the expectations. Technology has evolved in which relational and object-oriented concepts have been combined or merged. These systems are called object-relational database management systems (ORDBMS). ORDBMSs best ODBMSs in most situations because they can provide massive scalability as well as object-oriented features. Today, ODBMS is used mostly for niche applications where the data being managed falls into hierarchical structures with numerous and somewhat unpredictable relationships between data objects.

A database management system (DBMS) is a program that lets one or more computer users create and access data in a database (Database management system, TechTarget Network). The DBMS manages requests from users and programs so they are free from having to understand where the data is physically located on storage media and, in a multi-user system, who else may also be accessing the data. In handling requests, the DBMS ensures the integrity of the data to make sure it continues to be accessible and is consistently organized as intended and secure to make sure only those with access privileges can access the data. There are two major types of DBMSs. The most common is a relational database management system (RDBMS) that uses Structured Query Language as its standard user and program interface. Another kind of DBMS is the ODBMS that supports the modeling and creation of data as objects.

The ODMS was first invented around 1989 to extend object-oriented software to databases. Initially, it was intended for object-oriented programming languages such as C++ and SmallTalk, but later Java took on importance for...