Abstract

This paper proposes an object database evolution approach based on separation of concerns. The lack of customisability and extensibility in existing evolution frameworks is a consequence of using attributes at the meta-object level to implement links among meta-objects and the injection of instance adaptation code directly into the class versions. The proposed approach uses dynamic relationships to separate the connection code from meta-objects and aspects - abstractions used by Aspect-Oriented Programming to localise cross-cutting concerns - to separate the instance adaptation code from class versions. The result is a customisable and extensible evolution framework with low maintenance overhead.