HISTORICAL DATABASES - IT'S ABOUT TIME!

Abstract

Much recent research in the database community focuses on ways to expand the modelling capabilities of database management systems. The driving force behind this research is the growing size and sophistication of the user community, whose needs and applications seem to always be several steps ahead of the technology. One of the areas where considerable progress has been made in this regard is in the extension of existing data models to represent and manage the temporal dimension of data. In this paper we examine how these enhanced modelling capabilities will increase the functionality of the database management systems of tomorrow. We also introduce the notion of Temporal Representation Transparency as the appropriate abstraction mechanism for providing this increased functionality with minimum burden to the user.