Affiliation:
1. Department of Computer Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 7054 Haycock Road, Falls Church, VA 22043, USA
Abstract
Our principal objective in this paper is to show how we have adapted a domain analysis methodology, used previously in software reuse, to the formulation of a single query against federated databases. Currently, we query federated databases by writing queries against each of the legacy databases, merge the responses, and resolve syntactic and semantic differences manually. Such a solution places unacceptable expectations on most users, thus being impractical. In this paper, we propose an approach that requires the instantiation of a single query_class specification against federated databases, that also resolves simple syntactic and semantic differences on demand, without using a global schema for member databases. We illustrate the approach by instantiating a single query_class specification built against three legacy database schemata. In summary, domain analysis tools not only facilitate the formulation of query specifications, but they also help to resolve the database heterogeneity problem.
Publisher
World Scientific Pub Co Pte Lt
Subject
Artificial Intelligence,Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design,Computer Networks and Communications,Software