Static dependency analysis for semantic data validation

Abstract

Modern information systems manipulate data models containing millions of items, and the tendency is to make these models even more complex. One of the most crucial aspects of modern concurrent engineering environments is their reliability. The principles of ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) are aimed at providing it, but directly following them leads to serious performance drawbacks on large-scale models, since it is necessary to control the correctness of every performed transaction. In the paper, a method for incremental validation of object-oriented data is presented. Assuming that a submitted transaction is applied to originally consistent data, it is guaranteed that the final data representation is also consistent if only the spot rules are satisfied. To identify data items subject to spot rule validation, a bipartite data-rule dependency graph is formed. To automatically build the dependency graph a static analysis of the model specifications is proposed to apply. In the case of complex object-oriented models defining hundreds and thousands of data types and semantic rules, the static analysis seems to be the only way to realize the incremental validation and to make possible to manage the data in accordance with the ACID principles.