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Network model



 
 
The network model is a database model
Database model

A database model or database schema is the structure or format of a database, described in a formal language supported by the database management system....
 conceived as a flexible way of representing objects and their relationships. The network model original inventor was Charles Bachman
Charles Bachman

Charles William Bachman is an American computer scientist, who spent his entire career as an industrial researcher rather than in academia. He is particularly known for his work in the area of databases....
, and it was developed into a standard specification published in 1969 by the CODASYL
CODASYL

CODASYL is an acronym for "Conference on Data Systems Languages". This was an Information technology industry consortium formed in 1959 to guide the development of a standard programming language that could be used on many computers....
 Consortium.

e the hierarchical model
Hierarchical model

A hierarchical data model is a data model in which the data is organized into a Tree data structure-like structure. The structure allows repeating information using parent/child relationships: each parent can have many children but each child only has one parent....
 structures data as a tree of records, with each record having one parent record and many children, the network model allows each record to have multiple parent and child records, forming a lattice
Lattice (order)

In mathematics, a lattice is a partially ordered set in which subsets of any two elements have a unique supremum and an infimum . Lattices can also be characterized as algebraic structures satisfying certain Axiom identity ....
 structure.

The chief argument in favour of the network model, in comparison to the hierarchic model, was that it allowed a more natural modeling of relationships between entities.






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Encyclopedia


The network model is a database model
Database model

A database model or database schema is the structure or format of a database, described in a formal language supported by the database management system....
 conceived as a flexible way of representing objects and their relationships. The network model original inventor was Charles Bachman
Charles Bachman

Charles William Bachman is an American computer scientist, who spent his entire career as an industrial researcher rather than in academia. He is particularly known for his work in the area of databases....
, and it was developed into a standard specification published in 1969 by the CODASYL
CODASYL

CODASYL is an acronym for "Conference on Data Systems Languages". This was an Information technology industry consortium formed in 1959 to guide the development of a standard programming language that could be used on many computers....
 Consortium.

Overview

Where the hierarchical model
Hierarchical model

A hierarchical data model is a data model in which the data is organized into a Tree data structure-like structure. The structure allows repeating information using parent/child relationships: each parent can have many children but each child only has one parent....
 structures data as a tree of records, with each record having one parent record and many children, the network model allows each record to have multiple parent and child records, forming a lattice
Lattice (order)

In mathematics, a lattice is a partially ordered set in which subsets of any two elements have a unique supremum and an infimum . Lattices can also be characterized as algebraic structures satisfying certain Axiom identity ....
 structure.

The chief argument in favour of the network model, in comparison to the hierarchic model, was that it allowed a more natural modeling of relationships between entities. Although the model was widely implemented and used, it failed to become dominant for two main reasons. Firstly, IBM chose to stick to the hierarchical model with semi-network extensions in their established products such as IMS
Information Management System

IBM Information Management System is a joint hierarchical database and information management system with extensive transaction processing capabilities....
 and DL/I. Secondly, it was eventually displaced by the relational model
Relational model

The relational model for database management is a database model based on first-order logic, first formulated and proposed in 1969 by Edgar F. Codd....
, which offered a higher-level, more declarative interface. Until the early 1980s the performance benefits of the low-level navigational interfaces offered by hierarchical and network databases were persuasive for many large-scale applications, but as hardware became faster, the extra productivity and flexibility of the relational model led to the gradual obsolescence of the network model in corporate enterprise usage.

Some Well-known Network Databases
  • TurboIMAGE
    TurboIMAGE

    IMAGE is the primary reason that the HP3000 was a success. It is a reliable, simple, fast database for Multi-Programming_Executive. After about a decade of enhancements it was renamed TurboIMAGE, then TurboIMAGE/XL after the PA-RISC migration....
  • IDMS
    IDMS

    IDMS is a CODASYL database management system first developed at Goodrich Corporation and later marketed by Cullinane Database Systems . Since 1989 the product has been owned by Computer Associates, who renamed it CA-IDMS....
    (Integrated Database Management System)
  • RDM Embedded
    RDM Embedded

    RDM Embedded is a high performing ACID-compliant embedded database management library designed for both disk based and in-memory embedded systems and applications....
  • RDM Server
    RDM Server

    RDM Server is ACID-compliant client/server embedded database system designed for both disk based and in-memory embedded systems and applications....


History

In 1969, the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL
CODASYL

CODASYL is an acronym for "Conference on Data Systems Languages". This was an Information technology industry consortium formed in 1959 to guide the development of a standard programming language that could be used on many computers....
) established the first specification of the network database model. This was followed by a second publication in 1971, which became the basis for most implementations. Subsequent work continued into the early 1980s, culminating in an ISO
International Organization for Standardization

The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO , is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations....
 specification, but this had little influence on products.

See also

  • CODASYL
    CODASYL

    CODASYL is an acronym for "Conference on Data Systems Languages". This was an Information technology industry consortium formed in 1959 to guide the development of a standard programming language that could be used on many computers....
  • Navigational database
    Navigational database

    A navigational database is a type of database characterized by the fact that objects in it are found primarily by following references from other objects....
  • Semantic Web
    Semantic Web

    The Semantic Web is an evolving extension of the World Wide Web in which the semantics of information and services on the web is defined, making it possible for the web to understand and satisfy the requests of people and machines to use the web content....


Further reading

  • Charles W. Bachman, The Programmer as Navigator. ACM Turing Award lecture, Communications of the ACM, Volume 16, Issue 11, 1973, pp. 653-658, ,


External links