This paper reports on experience obtained during the design,
implementation and use of a multi-paradigm query interface to an
object-oriented database.  The specific system which has been
developed allows equivalent data retrieval tasks to be expressed using
textual, form-based and graph-based notations, and supports automatic
translation of queries between these three paradigms.  The motivation
behind the development of such an interface is presented, as is the
software architecture which supports the multi-paradigm functionality.
Feedback from initial user trials with a dual-paradigm version of the
system indicates that users can use it to perform complex query tasks
without difficulty, that given the choice users overwhelmingly prefer
the graph-based to the text-based interaction style, and that
graphical visualisation of textual queries appears to aid users in
query construction.