Query-Driven Simulation Using Active KDL: A Functional Object-Oriented Database System

Because of the difficulty of simulating large complex systems with traditional tools, new approaches have and are being developed. One group of interrelated approaches attempts to simultaneously make simulation modeling and analysis easier while at the same time providing enough power to handle more complex problems. This group includes the following important (overlapping) approaches: integrated simulation support environments, object-oriented simulation, and knowledge-based simulation. Query driven simulation fits somewhere in the middle of these three approaches. Its fundamental tenant is that simulationists or even naive users should see a system based upon query driven simulation as a sophisticated information system. A system/environment based upon query driven simulation will be able to store information about or to generate information about the behavior of systems that users wish to study. Active KDL (Knowledge/Data Language), which is a functional object-oriented database system (FOODS), supports query driven simulation by providing access to integrated data, knowledge, and model bases. The three sublanguages of Active KDL provide strong support for simulation modeling and analysis: Complex simulations may be structured using the schema definition language (SDL); results may be retrieved using the query language (QL); and models (which may include active objects) may be implemented using the database programming language (DBPL).