Object-oriented databases emerge to indulge object-oriented programming languages with databases. Although They have been around since the late 1970s, they have seen relatively low adoption in recent decades with functional programming languages and databases. Still, the increasing user community is expecting the ability to deliver fast queries with simple code.
Object-oriented databases closely are related to object-oriented programming concepts, so the four main ideas of object-oriented programming are:
- Polymorphism
- Inheritance
- Encapsulation
- Abstraction
These four attributes describe the central functioning of object-oriented management systems.
Polymorphism
An object can be in multiple forms. It allows the same program code to work with different data types. Both a car and a bike can break, but the mechanism is different. In this example, the break will be polymorphism, and the action taken is polymorphic, so the result changes depending on which Vehicle it is performed on.
Inheritance
Inheritance creates a hierarchical relationship between classes while making some parts of code reusable. While defining new types of courses in the function, it first inherits all the existing class fields present and methods and extends them further. Then the existing class will be the parent class, while the child class extends the parent.Â
For example, if a parent class is called Vehicle, which will have child classes Car and Bike, and if the information is inherited from the parent class, new data is inherited depending on the vehicle type given. This concept of inheritance comes to place, where the child class is inheriting information from the parent Vehicle.
Encapsulation
Encapsulation can group all the data and different mechanisms into a single object to provide access protection. Through this process, information and details of how an object works are kept hidden and not known, which results in data and function security taking place as classes interact with each other through different methods without the need to understand how particular methods work.
As an example, a car has many descriptive characteristics and actions. You can change the color of a vehicle. Yet, the model or its features are examples of properties that cannot change, so if a class is encapsulating all the car information into one entity mentioned, where some elements are modifiable while some are not as it doesn’t change quickly.
Abstraction
It is a procedure of representing only the essential data features for the needed functionality in the problem statement. This process usually selects critical information while the unnecessary information stays hidden. It helps to reduce the complexity of modeled data and allows reusability, which is an advantage.
For example, if there are different ways for a computer to connect to other networks. For instance, if a web browser needs an internet connection. However, the connection type is irrelevant as An established connection to the internet represents an abstraction, whereas the various relationships represent different abstraction implementations.
Also Read: Understanding Databases in MeteorJS
