Abstract
We wish to briefly discuss recent work in conceptual modelling from a slightly different point of view in order to highlight the parallels between data and transactions, and then mention some benefits of this view. A time-honoured way of describing a system (portion of the world) is by positing a domain of objects and then inter-relating them through function and predicate symbols. The resulting description is a set of axioms in a FOPC. If the world is dynamic, one usually augments the description with the notion of time or state, in which case axioms can be divided naturally into “general laws” (heretofore constraints ) holding in all states, and state-specific “facts”. Given states, one then also has the ability to describe state transitions ( events ) as predicates on pairs of states or, as shown below, as objects in their own right.