Unravelling Is-a Structures

Robert C. Goldstein and Veda C. Storey
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Robert C. Goldstein: Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration, University of British Columbia, 2053 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z2
Veda C. Storey: William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627

Information Systems Research, 1992, vol. 3, issue 2, 99-126

Abstract: Is-a relationships are widely recognized as conveying important information for database design. Although these relationships are implicitly hierarchical in nature, it is not uncommon to find collections of is-a relationships that form nonhierarchical structures. This paper formally defines is-a structures and classifies and interprets them. It illustrates how is-a structures can be used to identify possible database design errors or inefficiencies and to produce a database design that incorporates more of the semantics of an application.

Keywords: database design; is-a relationships; lattices; integrity constraints (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1992
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orisre:v:3:y:1992:i:2:p:99-126

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