Summary

In this chapter we've looked at the issues we face when making the state of our objects persistent. Specifically, we've considered:

• Serializing objects
  
  
• Using flat files
  
  
• Relational database theory
  
  
• Data structures
  
  
• Normalization
  
  
• Structured Query Language

One of the key features of your design will involve mapping your objects to tables. The main issues here are your need to:

• Identify objects
  
  
• Represent inheritance
  
  
• Preserve relationships

Then we looked at how these ideas can be implemented in a C++/RDB scenario, and at possible optimizations to the design. Lastly, we quickly introduced OODBs, a maturing area.

In the next chapter, we'll look more closely at general issues surrounding design implementation in C++.

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