Conceptual Modeling of Information Systems

It is claimed that Information Systems can be developed more easily, and can be used in a more natural way, by concentrating on the semantics of the application domain. This brief review paper presents a list of general features which characterize languages that can be used for this purpose (called “conceptual modeling languages”), and distinguish them from more traditional approaches to developing database-intensive application programs. The paper considers both programming languages and languages for specifying requirements, and includes discussion of the modeling of entities, activities, and of open issues.