Most applications rely on relational databases to manage this abundance of data. However, object databases have become another attractive option for a variety of applications. To manage the additional complexity, object-oriented programming languages are becoming the standard for developing today's mainstream applications. Using an object database is a natural extension to this language choice.
Object databases provide better performance, faster development, and more robust programs.
This article examines these claims and looks at a public domain object database, the Texas Persistent Store. Occasionally, a similar, but non-standard, query language is used to define the layout of the tables and interaction with the database. In contrast, object databases use an object-oriented programming language for data definition and manipulation of the objects within the database. The reduction of error-prone translation code lets the programmer concentrate on the semantics of the object's behavior instead of the syntax of storing and retrieving the object. Without embedded SQL, runtime storage errors are eliminated.