CS 561   Spring 2007.

CS561 HOMEWORK : RDB, OODB and ORDB

Assigned: Thursday, Jan 18, 2007
Due: Thursday, Jan 25, 2007
Collaboration: This homework could be discussed with other students, but the actual homework product should be turned in separately as prepared by each individual student.

To do:

• 1. Prepare a written critique on the readings on OODB and ORDBs handed out in class last week. One or two pages in length is sufficient. I'll collect those from you.

  You can use your own questions around which to center your critique; but do look at our course website for suggested general questions or topics a critique should typically cover.

  Specific questions for this readings that would make sense to focus on include: (a) what are the main features that OODBs offer over relational databases? (b) what are the pros and cons of pure relational DB versus Db's with object support?, and (c) what are the pros and cons of object-relational versus OO-database systems?

• Second, think through the running example of the CAD complex objects found in our simple CHIP design that we covered in class last week. Sketch out your solutions for a schema for this type of data using either object-relational or a pure object-oriented modeling constructs. Be ready to present your modeling ideas to the rest of the students in class.