An Algebraic Framework for Physical OODB Design

Physical design for object-oriented databases is still in its infancy. Implementation decisions often intrude into the conceptual design (such as inverse links and object decomposition). Furthermore, query optimizers do not always take full advantage of physical design information. This paper proposes a formal framework for physical database design that automates the query translation process. In this framework, the physical database design is specified in a declarative manner. This specification is used for generating an efficient query transformer that translates logical queries into programs that manipulate the physical database. Alternative access paths to physical data are captured as simple rewrite rules that are used for generating alternative plans for a query.