Object-oriented database systems have been approached with mainly two major intentions in mind, namely to better support new application areas including CAD/CAM, office automation, knowledge engineering, and to overcome the impendance mismatch' between data models and programming languages. This volume gives a comprehensive overwiew of developments in this flourishing area of current database research. Data model and language aspects, interface and database design issues, architectural and implementation questions are covered. Although based on a series of workshops, the contents of this book has been carefully edited to reflect the current state of international research in object oriented database design and implementation.

This volume represents the seventh edition of the ECOOP Workshop Reader, a compendiumofworkshopreportsfromthe17thEuropeanConferenceonObject- Oriented Programming (ECOOP 2003), held in Darmstadt, Germany, during July 21-25, 2003. The workshops were held during the ?rst two days of the conference. They cover a wide range of interesting and innovative topics in object-oriented te- nology and o?ered the participants an opportunity for interaction and lively discussion. Twenty-one workshops were selected from a total of 24 submissions based on their scienti?c merit, the actuality of the topic, and their potential for a lively interaction. Unfortunately, one workshop had to be cancelled. Special thanks are due to the workshop organizers who recorded and s- marized the discussions. We would also like to thank all the participants for their presentations and lively contributions to the discussion: they made this volume possible. Last, but not least, we wish to express our appreciation to the members of the organizing committee who put in countless hours setting up and coordinating the workshops. We hope that this snapshot of current object-oriented technology will prove stimulating to you. October 2003 Frank Buschmann Alejandro Buchmann Mariano Cilia Organization ECOOP 2003 was organized by the Software Technology Group, Department of Computer Science, Darmstadt University of Technology under the auspices of AITO (Association Internationale pour les Technologies Objets) in cooperation with ACM SIGPLAN. The proceedings of the main conference were published as LNCS 2743.

"Updates in Colo-Proctology" covers the proceedings of the Anglo-Swiss Colo-Proctology Meeting held in St Moritz in 1990. The book contains the papers which were presented and dis cussed there by physicians of the various specialties concerned with the care of patients with diseases of the colon, rectum and anus. The authors, each distinguished in a particular field, have contributed across a wide range of subjects and different dis ciplines. The topics covered include surgical and investigative techniques, cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and specific infections. Being familiar with the previous literature, it is clear that little was really new among the themes presented in St Moritz, but few will deny that many of the techniques and methods of treatment described in this book are truly modern. Some contribute an entirely new dimension to the approach to well known colo-proctological conditions, while others may open up new paths for future research. In addition, in colo-proctology as in other disciplines, advances in treatment almost always bring new problems in the complications which attend them. These are the subject of some of the papers. Although it would be invidious to pick out individual contributions when there is so much that is new to talk about and so much that is old to be looked at in a new light, we should like to record how much we have enjoyed reading and collating these chapters. We hope that others will share our enthusiasm and pleasure.

Die Autoren des Bandes diskutieren den aktuellen Stand der Datenbanktechnologie. Darstellung finden sowohl die geschlossenen Datenbank-Management-Systeme, die aus den Anwendungen und der heute etablierten Standardsoftware nicht mehr wegzudenken sind, als auch die Konzepte, die in verteilten Objektsystemen, Internet-Anwendungen, Agenten-Systemen, Workflow-Management und Middleware integriert werden.