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An object-relational database (ORD) is a database management system (DBMS) that’s composed of both a relational database (RDBMS) and an object-oriented database (OODBMS). ORD supports the basic components of any object-oriented database model in its schemas and the query language used, such as objects, classes and inheritance.
An object-relational database may also be known as an object relational database management systems (ORDBMS).
Techopedia Explains Object-Relational Database
ORD is said to be the middleman between relational and object-oriented databases because it contains aspects and characteristics from both models. In ORD, the basic approach is based on RDB, since the data is stored in a traditional database and manipulated and accessed using queries written in a query language like SQL. However, ORD also showcases an object-oriented characteristic in that the database is considered an object store, usually for software that is written in an object-oriented programming language. Here, APIs are used to store and access the data as objects.
One of ORD’s aims is to bridge the gap between conceptual data modeling techniques for relational and object-oriented databases like the entity-relationship diagram (ERD) and object-relational mapping (ORM). It also aims to connect the divide between relational databases and the object-oriented modeling techniques that are usually used in programming languages like Java, C# and C++.
Traditional RDBMS products concentrate on the efficient organization of data that is derived from a limited set of data-types. On the other hand, an ORDBMS has a feature that allows developers to build and innovate their own data types and methods, which can be applied to the DBMS. With this, ORDBMS intends to allow developers to increase the abstraction with which they view the problem area.
