Reflective databases:
- GEN (v10) supports reflective or self-describing databases. This description is called a meta-schema*:
- Meta-table TT describes table or record types. Meta-table TA defines key and non-key attributes. The relation TT-->TA is 1:many.
- A reflective database can process its own description as data, at runtime.
- Examples: the names of fields in a particular table can be used to print a header row of column labels over a tabular report containing record instances as rows; format rules can be checked (validated) before accepting input data.
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*Tables TT and TA must be read-only; changing TT or TA modifies database format and requires re-compilation.