GESTALT

1 March 1989

journal article
Published by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in ACM SIGMOD Record

Vol. 18 (1) , 54-67
https://doi.org/10.1145/382272.382415

Abstract

Many new database applications require computational and data modelling power simply not present in conventional database management systems. Developers are forced to design complex encodings of complex data into a limited set of database types, and to embed DML commands into a host programming language, a notoriously tricky and error-prone enterprise. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of GESTALT, a system and methodology for organizing and interfacing to multiple heterogeneous, existing database systems. Application programs are written in a supported programming language (currently C and Lisp) using high-level data and control abstractions native to the language. The system is flexible in that the underlying database systems can easily be replaced/upgraded/augmented without affecting existing application programs. We also describe our experience with the system: GESTALT has been in daily operational use at MIT for over a year, supporting an information system for CAF, a research facility for the automation of semiconductor fabrication.

Keywords

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