Data Structures for CAD Object Description

Designing databases allowing the inter-application communication of designs in integrated CAD systems is a very complex task. A way of breaking this complexity consists in clearly separating the logical and physical concerns in database design. A data model well-suited to the logical description of elaborate objects such as those handled in CAD in electronics is presented. It is argued to be more adapted to the CAD needs than the hierarchic, network and relational data models.