Object-oriented databases store data models created by object-oriented programming language. Programmers can create, modify, and store object datasets within these databases. Object-oriented databases require a query language in order to retrieve the information stored inside. Often used by engineering companies and science laboratories, object-oriented databases can hold more complex data than relational database tools, which require a table to be set with the information. Some may choose to use a object-relational database, which is a combination of object-oriented and a relational database. Other similar types of database solutions that differ from object orientated databases include document database tools, graph database tools, key-value store tools and more. Many object-orientated database software are available at no cost and developers have many free database software options.
To qualify for inclusion in the Object-Oriented Database category, a product must:
Provide data storage
Store the data in object-based data models
Allow users to create, store, and modify object data models