End-User Programming for Scientific Databases

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This project will develop an end-user oriented tool for constructing scientific databases. The purpose of the tool is to radically reduce the time and expense of designing, implementing and maintaining complex scientific databases by generating database and user-interface software automatically from declarative, easily understood high-level specifications. Specifically, the tool will generate SYBASE databases with X-Window interfaces written in C++ code. The tool will be developed in two stages: an initial kernel and an advanced stage. The kernel will support the development and maintenance of database designs and the automatic generation of implementations from them. This phase will focus on automating the development of a generic type of database application with a number of features specifically oriented towards scientific needs, including the ability to annotate facts with references or authorities, facilities for handling synonyms and technical thesauri, and self-documenting data models. The kernel will be adapted and generalized from software developed previously by the authors of this proposal for scientific database applications, including a prototype application generator of the type proposed. In the second phase we will use the kernel as a framework in which to investigate more advanced problems, specifically, how to expand the scope of the applications which can easily be generated using the tool. In this phase we will identify specific classes of functionality not currently supported and develop extensions to support them. We expect that these extensions will involve the incorporation of restricted languages for specifying fragments of functionality, such as rules for constructing names or default values. Finally we will attempt to circulate the tool among those segments of the biological community involved in database development, and incorporate their feedback into the design.