A topological approach to database theory /

Abstract

The data modeling techniques which are currently used to construct the logical view of data have made use of trees, graphs, and sets, as underlying data structures. However, these structures have certain limitations when they are used in dynamic database representation for database design procedures. The topological approach to the data modeling makes use of abstract spaces and topologies as mathematical structures. The database space, which serves as a logical view of the data, is introduced with the concept of topological space. Then, the topological structure provides the concept of equivalence testing between database spaces. Furthermore, the concept of database space equivalence provides the foundation of the database generator which is an automatic database design machine. In the database space, the microcosmic set represents the set of attributes and it plays a major role for the intra-record type representation, while the selected topology represents the set of pseudo-entity types and its product topology plays a major role for the inter-record type representation in the database design level.