On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 12:21, Piers Cawley wrote; > Freeze/thaw data format and PBC > Leo Tötsch is working on the data serialization/deserialization > (aka Freeze/Thaw) system discussed over the last few weeks. He > wondered if there were any plans for the frozen image data > format. Leo's plan is to use PBC constant format (with possible > extensions) so things integrate neatly into bytecode. Dan had a > bunch of comments, but the PBC based format idea seemed to be well > received, with the caveat that it should be a 'dense' format.
Cool. How are hooks in place for tools like Pixie and Tangram when these objects are being stored? Pixie works (Piers, please correct me if I'm wrong) by hanging magic off the object to let Pixie know when it encounters a storage object. It then lets the serialiser freeze the object. So, it needs to intercept the serialiser on a per-object *instance* basis. I've been considering the differences and inadequacies between Tangram and Pixie for quite some time now, and I think all I need to write a persistence tool that is as useful as Pixie, but as OLTP capable as Tangram is to be able to intercept freezing, and be able to feed the thaw'er, on a defined *Class/Property* basis. ie, I want to let the serialiser work just like Pixie, but when you encounter an object whose Class is defined to have a slightly different storage mechanism (perhaps there is a column which you want a database to add to an index for you; maybe the object is a static sized object and all the rows in it map to columns), it could be extracted without re-inventing the serialisation wheel for the process, or expecting the Classes to implement special methods. Much as I appreciate that Perl based index objects are just as functional as database indexes, I'd quite like to use my database for that. It's actually quite good at it :-). Would it be too much to ask for such hooks? Or should I come up with a sample implementation / design? -- Sam Vilain, [EMAIL PROTECTED] We must become the change we want to see. -- Mahatma Gandhi
