This document describes general concepts needed for object-relational mapping. It can serve as an introduction to the issues involved in doing object-relational mapping in general and can provide the foundation for understanding a framework that tries to support that mapping.

The goal of this library is to make ODBC recordsets look just like an STL container. What is more, we do this portably so the abstraction can run on multiple platforms and C++ compilers. As a user, you can move through our containers using standard STL iterators; and if you insert(), erase() or replace() records in our containers changes can be automatically migrated to the database for you. The library's compliance with the STL iterator and container standards means you can plug our abstractions into a wide variety of STL algorithms for data storage, searching and manipulation.

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Entity-Relationship Model
Chapter 3: Relational Model
Chapter 4: SQL
Chapter 5: Other Relational Languages
Chapter 6: Integrity Constraints   
Chapter 7: Relational Database Design   
Chapter 8: Object-Oriented Databases   
Chapter 9: Object-Relational Databases   
Chapter 10: Storage and File Structure   
Chapter 11: Indexing and Hashing   
Chapter 12: Query Processing

Data is a major element in the foundation of any enterprise. Accountants make and defend decisions using financial data. Manufacturers and purchasers rely on stock and order data to temper inventory. Salespeople study customer history data. Executive management depends on data to examine company controls.

The normal forms defined in relational database theory represent guidelines for record design. The guidelines corresponding to first through fifth normal forms are presented here, in terms that do not require an understanding of relational theory. The design guidelines are meaningful even if one is not using a relational database system. We present the guidelines without referring to the concepts of the relational model in order to emphasize their generality, and also to make them easier to understand.