ObjectStore

ObjectStore is a commercial object database, which is a specialized type of database designed to handle data created by applications that use object-oriented programming techniques. It is inspired by the Statice database originally developed at Symbolics. ObjectStore is innovative in its use of the C++ language to make database access transparent. Objects can be created in a database by overloading the operator new(). In this way, one can store C++ objects directly in the database and these persistent objects look and behave just like normal C++ objects. By making use of signals, ObjectStore traps pointer exceptions and transparently brings objects in from the database. In addition, by use of a technique called swizzling, the database can be accessed from different platforms, with pages being 'swizzled' as they are brought into memory on page faults to correct big endian versus little endian platform issues as well as virtual function table layout. The design of ObjectStore is described in 1991 paper^[1] in the Communications of the ACM.

ObjectStore was originally created in 1988 by Object Design, Incorporated, which was based in Burlington, Massachusetts and founded by several former Symbolics employees. In 2002 the product was acquired by Progress Software, which continues to develop the technology, and has recently expanded its use beyond the object database market to target use as a database for real-time computing, specifically designed for RFID data management, and as a cache for relational databases. The ObjectStore product is used in many fields, including telecommunications, financial services, travel, GIS, and the government.

One of the early successful applications of the product was with Telstra to handle 13 and 1300 numbers in Australia - similar to 1800 numbers in the US. The product enabled the real time mapping of those numbers to a number closest to the caller - for example a local taxi company or the nearest open Pizza Hut.^[2]

References

1. ^ Lamb, Charles; Landis, Gordon; Orenstein, Jack; Weinreb, Dan (1991), "The Objectstore Database System", Communications of the ACM 34 (10): 50–63, doi:10.1145/125223.125244 
2. ^ Telstra Corp. Ltd. Selects ObjectStore For Nationwide Call Routing And Delivery Application., Burlington, MA: Business Wire, March 13, 1995, http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/software-services-applications-programming/7107436-1.html, retrieved 2009-02-04 

See also

• Database
• Object-oriented programming
• Real-time computing
• RFID

External links

• ObjectStore