Re: Object Role Modelling (ORM) or UML or ?? for designing Schemas

[Ken North <ken_north@compuserve.com>]

> "...  My guess is that the syntax-centric
> stranglehold will not be broken until there's a conscious focus
> on conceptual modeling, accompanied by an unspoken agreement
> that XML schemas and other markup syntaxes can readily be
> generated from conceptual model notations..."
>
> but the comment appeared to have fallen on deaf ears.

My sense is quite a few developers are on the same wavelength. The first
time
someone asked me about this was 1999. My reply was we'd "soon" be using
design tools
that enable us to work at a high level of abstraction -- create a conceptual
model and then select whether to generate an SQL schema or XML schema. That
prediction was wrong by about 2-3 years, but it was based in part on the
Schema WG predicting a spec by December 1999.

Conceptual model -> XML Schema is not a quantum leap in technology. It
follows the natural evolution of existing technologies and tools. Matt Fuchs
was the primary author of a paper about UML -> SOX schema in 1999. Since
1994, there have been tools (InfoDesigner/InfoModeler/VisioModeler) capable
of transforming an ORM conceptual model to generate an SQL Schema. You
define objects, roles, constraints, and facts (graphically or verbally)--
the tool emits CREATE TABLE, CREATE TRIGGER. Not too difficult to foresee
modeling the same objects, roles, and constraints, and emitting <type>.


There is clearly an advantage to using the same model to generate XML and
database schemas. However, people sometimes have to work in a manual
syntax-editing mode before they appreciate the productivity of tools.