A declarative conceptual modelling language, implemented as an extension to Prolog, is described. The language is based on an extended version of the entity-relationship (ER) model for the declaration of the information classes and the formulation of queries, and adopts an abstract data type (ADT) approach to define and execute application-oriented update operations.
The language is an integral part of a workbench that provides rapid prototyping at the conceptual level and that supports expert level features. Simple examples to illustrate the direct use of the workbench over a database/knowledge base application and the addition of expert level features are also included.