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An OODBMS (object-oriented database management system) is a system offering DBMS facilities in an object-oriented programming environment. Data is stored as objects and can be interpreted only using the methods specified by its class. The relationship between similar objects is preserved (inheritance) as are references between objects. Queries can be faster because joins are often not needed (as in a relational database). This is because an object can be retrieved directly without a search, by following its object id. Small icon for merging articles File links The following pages link to this file: Friction Jacobin Private branch exchange Pro-feminist Rotary piston engine Tagalog language Saint Veronica Spoiler effect Parser Password length equation Sudovian language Wikipedia:Why arent these pages copy-edited Static scoping Maximum power theorem General... An object database (more correctly referred to as ODBMS or OODBMS for Object Database Management System) is a DBMS that stores objects as opposed to rows or tuples in respectively a SQL or a RDBMS (Relational Database Management System). ... A database management system (DBMS) is a computer program (or more typically, a suite of them) designed to manage a database, a large set of structured data, and run operations on the data requested by numerous users. ... In computer science, Object-oriented programming, OOP for short, is a computer programming style that emphasizes the following concepts: Objects - Packaging data and functionality together into units within a running computer program; objects are the basis of modularity and structure in an object-oriented computer program. ... In laymans terms, a method is a series of steps taken to accomplish an objective. ... The term class, when used by itself, has several meanings in English. ... For other uses, see inheritance (disambiguation). ... A relational database is a database based on the relational model. ...

The same programming language can be used for both data definition and data manipulation. The full power of the database programming language's type system can be used to model data structures and the relationship between the different data items.

Multimedia applications are facilitated because the class methods associated with the data are responsible for its correct interpretation.

OODBMSs typically provide better support for versioning. An object can be viewed as the set of all its versions. Also, object versions can be treated as full fledged objects. OODBMSs also provide systematic support for triggers and constraints which are the basis of active databases. Revision control is an aspect of documentation control wherein changes to documents are identified by incrementing an associated number or letter code, termed the revision level, or simply revision. It has been a standard practice in the maintenance of engineering drawings for as long as the generation of such drawings... In its earliest usage, trigger refers to a mechanical mechanism, the pulling or pushing of which sets a device into action. ...

On the other hand OODBMSs advocates sometimes claim that these databases help to reduce the semantic gap between the application domain (miniworld) and the storage structures [1] (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISJ/is_n2_v33/ai_15519487/pg_4).