Re: Generic Database

Have you considered using a Network Database (Network databases came before the Relational databases in the evolution)? Network model does not exactly require you to have the so called tables. They operate on entities and links. So you can have a single object linked to multiple attributes. Multiple objects can share a single attribute too.

Network databases offer significant perfromance advantages and storage advantages, if designed right. Hewlett-Packard used to have a good network db, I can't remember the name.

On the other hand, network databases are a totally different ball game when it comes to manipulate them. Since they are not relational, SQL is not native to the. You need to access them using the tree traversal methods. Insert and delete operations map to tree splitting and tree merging.

A good commercial network db is Velocis, it also used to be called 'Raima' database. I do not know if they stil exist.

-Srini

In article <396C7C23.CFB17711_at_cs.colgate.edu>,   Rod Moten <rod_at_cs.colgate.edu> wrote:
> I'm interested in designing a database that contains a single table.
> However each record can represent a different entity. For example, a
> record for representing a bear has the same fields for representing a
> plane. Has anyone wrote any papers about this subject?
>
> Rod
>
>

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Before you buy. Received on Sun Jul 16 2000 - 00:00:00 CEST