In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, association
forming entities are: a) maintained as objects in a like manner to the data objects
being associated; and b) are themselves partitioned objects comprising two or more
association fragments, each association fragment being mostly concerned with the
interfaces to a particular data object participating in the association. In accordance
with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, each association fragment
affiliated with a particular data object is stored in a location that enhances
the ease of interaction between the association fragment and the data object. For
example, where a first data object and second data object are maintained in data
stores at some distance from one another, physically or logically, then a first
association fragment will be located with or near to the first data object, and
a second association fragment will be located with or near the second data object,
at least within the same partition. This arrangement may be preferable because
the volume of interaction between a data object and its respective association
fragment may far outweigh the interaction needed between the two association fragments.
This arrangement may also be preferable as the volume of interaction between a
client application and both the data object and respective association fragment
may exceed the interaction needed between the two association fragments. Some interactions
will employ only one of the association fragments with the net result being a reduction
in communications requirements and an improvement in performance. The present invention
further provides for defining logical domains which are arbitrary and entirely
orthogonal to partitions.
