lntegratin persistence and deductive databases

Emerging database applications, for instance those typical of design databases, place a number of novel requirements on Database Management Systems, principally due to the added complexíty of the data and the software which manipulates it. Two particular requirements are the need for complex data structures, which mirror the structure of the real world information, and the increased importance of integrity constraints. The latter, which may appear in the form of derived data, rules, active data, triggers, etc., is provided for in deductive databases. The former is provided by object-based systems, such as persistent programming languages. However, deductive databases, being based on type-less logic systems, provide little data structuring support, while persistent programming languages fail to provide adequate support for constraints. The paper describes an experiment in integrating the two approaches