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Concept
EXPRESS (data modeling language)
Summary
EXPRESS is a standard for generic data modeling language for product data. EXPRESS is formalized in the ISO Standard for the Exchange of Product model STEP (ISO 10303), and standardized as ISO 10303-11.
Data models formally define data objects and relationships among data objects for a domain of interest. Some typical applications of data models include supporting the development of databases and enabling the exchange of data for a particular area of interest. Data models are specified in a data modeling language. EXPRESS is a data modeling language defined in ISO 10303-11, the EXPRESS Language Reference Manual.
An EXPRESS data model can be defined in two ways, textually and graphically. For formal verification and as input for tools such as SDAI the textual representation within an ASCII file is the most important one. The graphical representation on the other hand is often more suitable for human use such as explanation and tutorials. The graphical representation, called EXPRESS-G, is not able to represent all details that can be formulated in the textual form.
EXPRESS is similar to programming languages such as Pascal. Within a SCHEMA various datatypes can be defined together with structural constraints and algorithmic rules. A main feature of EXPRESS is the possibility to formally validate a population of datatypes - this is to check for all the structural and algorithmic rules.
EXPRESS-G is a standard graphical notation for information models. It is a companion to the EXPRESS language for displaying entity and type definitions, relationships and cardinality. This graphical notation supports a subset of the EXPRESS language. One of the advantages of using EXPRESS-G over EXPRESS is that the structure of a data model can be presented in a more understandable manner. A disadvantage of EXPRESS-G is that complex constraints cannot be formally specified. Figure 1 is an example. The data model presented in figure could be used to specify the requirements of a database for an audio compact disc (CD) collection.
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