Publicado em: 30/11/2012

Proposta de Tese em Engenharia de Software

UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL
INSTITUTO DE INFORMÁTICA
PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM COMPUTAÇÃO
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DEFESA DE PROPOSTA DE TESE

Aluno: Alexandre Torres
Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Renata de Matos Galante

Título: An Essential Synergistic Notation for Object-Relational Mapping design: How patterns can help on modeling information systems in a framework independent way?

Linha de Pesquisa: Engenharia de Software

Data: 06/12/2012
Horário: 9h
Local: Sala 220 (conselhos). Prédio 43412 – Instituto de Informática

Banca Examinadora:
Profa. Dra. Karin Becker (UFRGS)
Prof. Dr. Leonardo Gresta Paulino Murta (UFF)
Prof. Dr. Sérgio Castelo Branco Soares (UFPE)

Presidente da Banca: Profa. Dra. Renata de Matos Galante

Abstract:
Object-oriented and relational paradigms are part of most information systems developed in the last two decades, and are still challenging developers with its technical differences and deceptive similarities. Several object-relational mapping patterns and tools identify the common trade-offs necessary to succeed using objects and relational databases together in the context of systems development. Despite the extensive knowledge produced about object-relational mapping, separated models, such as ER and UML models, are still the most adopted way to represent information systems, even if they fail to capture the mappings between the two paradigms. Those mappings are scattered in the implementation, or within proprietary mappings, and as the models evolve, the distance between objects and relations only tends to increase. This thesis proposal propounds a synergistic approach for modeling, in a platform independent way, the design of object-oriented systems persisted on relational databases. This synergistic approach comprises an original and new notation proposal, based upon an extensive survey on ORM patterns and frameworks. In this notation, unified models are used, representing classes and schema information about the database structure that stores its persistent state. The notation is evaluated by example implementations in different ORM platforms, and comparative experimental evidence. This evidence is collected from the application of the notation by groups of subjects, in comparison to the separated use of ER and UML models, in a controlled environment, within the context of designing solutions for cases based upon analysis patterns. The preliminary experimental results pointed out that the notation produced less errors than the use of separated UML/ER models.

Keywords: Models, Object-Relational Mapping, UML, Patterns, Synergy.