Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!amdahl!uunet!tektronix!sequent!mntgfx!plogan
From: plogan@mntgfx.mentor.com (Patrick Logan)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: relational vs object-oriented
Message-ID: <1989Feb25.105339.8080@mntgfx.mentor.com>
Date: 25 Feb 89 18:53:38 GMT
References: <376@uncmed.med.unc.edu> <3900005@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <2514@tekcae.CAX.TEK.COM>
Organization: Mentor Graphics Corporation, Beaverton Oregon
Lines: 50
In-reply-to: moiram@tekcae.CAX.TEK.COM's message of 24 Feb 89 21:09:09 GMT

In article <2514@tekcae.CAX.TEK.COM> moiram@tekcae.CAX.TEK.COM (Moira Mallison) writes:
<>
<>   I have worked mostly with GemStone (*).
<>   I've worked with Vbase (**) somewhat less,
<>   A third commercially available database is Gbase (***),
<>   and I have not used it .
<>
<>   Moira Mallison
<>   CAX Data Management
<>   Tektronix, Inc.
<>
<>   (*)   GemStone is a product of Servio-Logic Corporation, Beaverton, OR.
<>   (**)  Vbase is a product of Ontologic, Inc, Billerica, MA.  Vbase+ is
<>	 in development.
<>   (***) Gbase is a product of Graphael.

Last April I used G*base briefly (a few days) and attended their training class.
I used it on a Symbolics and seem to recall it also runs on TI Explorers
(including the MacII/MicroExplorer) and Suns. A port to Vaxen was either
planned or in progress.

G*base requires a CommonLISP environment. It doesn't provide what some may
consider the essentials of a true object-oriented system: there are no "methods"
for objects managed by the database and there is no user-definable class hierarchy
(i.e. there are user-defined types but no inheritance). One could provide "methods"
easily using the Lisp interface, all I'm saying here is such a mechanism is not
managed automatically by G*base.

It also doesn't provide some essential database features: e.g. it is not multi-user.
I also don't recall any versioning mechanisms, although it does provide the concept
of commiting a transaction.

In essence, G*base provides a persistent store for a "property list"-style 
single-user database. On top of that it adds an interesting query/report/data-entry
interface, a fairly extensive procedural interface (Lisp only), a Prolog interface
(using their version of Prolog that runs within the same Lisp environment, and
strong support for arbitrary data (e.g. sound, bit-maps, structured graphics, anything-
you-want-and-can-get-into-a-computer).

Graphael seemed to be aware of the difference between G*base and a "true" object-
oriented database. Some work was in progress, for instance concurrency and inheritance
I believe were either being planned or implemented.

*** I have never been associated with Graphael. All information here is based on hazy
recall that may not be accurate. I suggest contacting Graphael for facts. They're
located somewhere around Boston. ***

-- 
Patrick Logan ...!tektronix!sequent!mntgfx!plogan
"Scheme - that's the news... the, ahh, minimalist news." =8)