Object-oriented database systems have been approached with mainly two major intentions in mind, namely to better support new application areas including CAD/CAM, office automation, knowledge engineering, and to overcome the `impendance mismatch' between data models and programming languages. This volume gives a comprehensive overwiew of developments in this flourishing area of current database research. Data model and language aspects, interface and database design issues, architectural and implementation questions are covered. Although based on a series of workshops, the contents of this book has been carefully edited to reflect the current state of international research in object oriented database design and implementation.