[freenet-dev] Help with berkeley db

[Chris Carlin]

bbackde at googlemail.com wrote:
> Thanks for the hint. sqllite is C and I have to check if this fits in
> my concept. Currently I use a pure-Java database, runs on all
> platforms where frost runs.
>   
The subversion guys had this parable about building a bike shed: if you 
mention wanting to build something really complex like a nuclear 
reactor, very few people will pitch in with advise or criticism, but if 
mention wanting to build a simple shed to store your bike people will 
come out of the woodwork with advise on everything from paint to wood. I 
always thought it was a funny observation.

So, my contribution to this bike shed: I've had poor experiences with 
sqllite in the past, and I think a lot of people cut it entirely too 
much slack because it's one of those darlings of open source.

Another alternative you might want to check out is the native XML 
version of Berkeley DB. This provides you with the hierarchical view of 
data afforded by XML along with the indexing and query languages (XPath 
and XQuery) of a "real" database. Of course you inherit all of the 
negatives that come with db, but then if you're using db right now it 
can be worth it.

In the end these aren't directly comparable. SQL, XQuery, and tables are 
three very different paradigms that each work best in different cases, 
and its best to match the database to your data. As you've seen, it is 
possible to stuff data into any format, but it carries difficulties and 
keeps you from using the full power of the platform.

Looking at the tables proposed by NextGen$ I believe this data is a very 
good candidate for the hierarchical storage provides by dbxml.

~Chris