An interactive design tool for complex object access

Advanced database applications demand new data modeling constructs beyond those available in relational databases to support the definition of complex objects. In this thesis, I present an interactive design tool for reasoning about complex object access. The tool is based on a logic for rewrite rules proposed by Coburn and Weddell (1).;First we present the interactive design tool and its graphical user interface. A tutorial to the logic used in the tool is also presented. Followed is the proof of the correctness of the tool. Also presented is an example of using the design tool to specify complex object access requirements and to perform a detailed design for these requirements.;The model theory for the logic presumes that complex objects correspond to vertices in a labelled directed graph. Object access is specified in a component of the logic corresponding to a wide-spectrum algebra. The algebra is wide-spectrum in the sense that it may be used to express user-level queries, low-level evaluation strategies and any level of detail in between. Sentences in the logic may be used to express circumstances in which one kind of algebraic expression subsumes another. In particular, a sentence can express that a particular access plan implements a user-level query. Sentences can also be used to "encode" application integrity constraints manifest in data definition as well as storage decisions relating to physical design. Of particular significance is that rewrite rules used in rule based query optimizers may also be expressed as sentences of the logic.