TRENDS IN DATABASE TECHNOLOGY - Database Design and Development: An Essential Guide for IT Professionals - page 666

Parent (Joseph, Monika)
Parent (Joseph, Shaina)
Parent (Joseph, Samuel)

Parent (David, Samantha)
Parent (David, Amanda)
Parent (David, Tabitha)
Parent (David, Andrew)

Parent (Shobi, Kristin)
Parent (Shobi, Michael)
Parent (Shobi, Kaitlin)
Parent (Shobi, Kassia)
Parent (Shobi, Karolyn)

FACTS

Vimala

Parent (Vimala, Joseph)
Parent (Vimala, David)
Parent (Vimala, Shobi)

TREE

Joseph

David

Shobi

Monika

Samuel
Samantha

Andrew

Amanda

Shaina Kristin

Kaitlin
Kassia

Karolyn

Tabitha

Michael

QUERIES
Supporter (Vimala,Y)?
Names of all dependents of Vimala
Supporter (Vimala, Samuel)?
Answer: TRUE

RULES

Supporter (X,Y) : = Parent (X,Y)

Supporter (X,Y) : Parent (X,Z), Supporter (Z,Y)

Dependent (X,Y) : = Supporter (Y,X)

=

Figure 20-25 Prolog notation: facts, rules, queries.

enough. Modern requirements call for a more inclusive type of database system that
can accommodate the ever-increasing newer types of objects.
If the number of multimedia objects is small, you can probably get by if you
store the objects in a file and the descriptions in a database and somehow relate the
two. Storage and retrieval based on searches can be managed without much diffi-
culty. However, if your organization deals with a large assortment of multimedia
objects, as many modern organizations do, then you need a multimedia database
system.

Types of Multimedia A multimedia database system stores and manages the
following types of objects:

Text. Formatted or free-form character or numeric strings. Includes HTML pages.

Graphics. Diagrams, drawings, and charts in descriptive encoded formats.

Images. Pictures, photographs, scanned images, and so on, digitized in standard
formats.

Audio. As bit strings in digitized form. Also includes structured audio with distinct
components of note, tone, sound level, and duration.

Video. Sequenced photographs to be presented at precise rates.

Animation. Images or graphs in time sequence.

Mixed media. As for example, synchronized audio and video.