EXTENSIBILITY IN THE STARBURST DATABASE SYSTEM.

The goal of the Starburst project is to examine how traditional relational database systems must be adapted for new applications and technologies. Five potential areas for extensibility are examined: external data storage, storage management, access methods, abstract data types, and complex objects. The approach emphasizes extensions written by knowledgeable programmers that are invoked as needed from within the primary database system. An example shows how this method could be used to implement support for complex objects.