Berthold Daum
Udo Merten

Cover Credits: Marrakech, Morocco, Africa/Guido Alberto Rossi/Imagebank

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks or registered trademarks. In all instances in which Morgan Kaufmann Publishers is aware of a claim, the product names appear in initial capital or all capital letters. Readers, however, should contact the appropriate companies for more complete information regarding trademarks and registration.

Morgan Kaufmann Publishers
An Imprint of Elsevier Science
340 Pine Street, Sixth Floor,
San Francisco, CA 94104-3205, USA
www.mkp.com

2003 by Elsevier Science (USA)
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America

07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2002107238
ISBN: 1-55860-745-5

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

About the Authors

Berthold Daum holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and was a codeveloper of NATURAL 4GL at Software AG. He has lectured in database design at the University of Karlsruhe and has practical experience in the design and implementation of large distributed online systems. In the 1980s, he became involved in artificial...