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
