Object-Oriented Database

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What Does Object-Oriented Database Mean?

An object-oriented database is a database that subscribes to a model with information represented by objects. Object-oriented databases are a niche offering in the relational database management system (RDBMS) field and are not as successful or well-known as mainstream database engines.

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Techopedia Explains Object-Oriented Database

As the name implies, the main feature of object-oriented databases is allowing the definition of objects, which are different from normal database objects. Objects, in an object-oriented database, reference the ability to develop a product, then define and name it. The object can then be referenced, or called later, as a unit without having to go into its complexities. This is very similar to objects used in object-oriented programming.

A real-life parallel to objects is a car engine. It is composed of several parts: the main cylinder block, the exhaust system, intake manifold and so on. Each of these is a standalone component; but when machined and bolted into one object, they are now collectively referred to as an engine. Similarly, when programming one can define several components, such as a vertical line intersecting a perpendicular horizontal line while both lines have a graded measurement. This object can then be collectively labeled a graph. When utilizing the ability to plot components, there is no need to first define a graph; but rather the instance of the created graph can be called.

Examples of object-oriented database engines include db4o, Smalltalk and Cache.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist
Margaret Rouse
Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.