OODB Design with EER

In contrast to the conventional methodology of object-oriented program design focused on the interaction of objects, object-oriented database design should be based on the representation of objects. We put more emphasis in the application semantics pertinent to the structures of, relationships between, and constraints on objects than operations on the objects. Enhanced Entity-Relationship (EER) model is a convenient tool for representing these semantics. In this paper, I address the concept and methodology of using the EER model to design an object oriented database schema. The EER model facilitates the design of a logical schema that can be mapped to an object-oriented schema straightforward. An EER schema diagram is also a useful document that describes the logical database schema to other designers and users.