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The database is the biggest object in my system

After posting a link to my The TOA of Tom a couple interesting discussions occurred inside comp.object. While responding to Bryce Jacobs, a better way of describing what we're doing came to me. It's buried in:

In fact, after inspecting multiple C APIs for LDAP, iCAL, and other libraries it appears it's not even foreign to C programmers. Often a structure is used to hold state information for a connection to a resources, but the format of that information isn't exposed to API-users except through an API. Even when a method may only be returning a value from the structure, API programmers know that level of indirection affords them flexibility inside the structure they may use without negatively impacting all the API's users.

So a common pattern is used by both C and OO programmers. What my paper is promoting (and I'll try to do a better job explaining) is that the same pattern be applied to how OO programs access the DB.

Essentially, my paper on transaction processing encourages thinking of the database as one big object with all the rules for data hiding and interfaces OO programmers are already acquainted with.

Why shouldn't applications have embedded SQL? Because it's the same as accessing the private data members of an object. It shouldn't be done. OO programmers know the correct way to interface with an object is to use its method interface--not attempt direct manipulation of the object's data. OO programmer's attempts to violate that rule is what causes so much frustration mapping the application's data graph into a relational database's tables, rows, and columns. Those things belong to the DB--not to the application.

Now, OO programmers and system designers can return to their favorite Patterns books and reevaluate the lessons from a new perspective. Should make some interesting reading.


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Archive Category: Design
Keyword Tags:  database   object oriented   programming   design   architecture   relational   SQL   API

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