Hi John, >I wouldn't use SQLite for most in memory data that never needs to be >stored on disk
Even this depends entirely on your context. Of course if only a simple lookup in a table is more or less all you ever need, there is little point in SQLite. But if or when your requirements get more complex and things shift away from what basic data structures can do, SQLite can be something worst considering. For instance, if the language you use doesn't offer native support for flexible data structure and fancy access to such data, you can feel much more comfortable using memory DB(s) than a collection of third-party libraries, not always consistent between each other, to achieve the same effect as SQLite can offer in minutes. I use AutoIt (a very complete Basic-like scripting language for Windows) to develop most applications I need. It doesn't offer structures, nor unions, nor objects nor, say, associative arrays. But it only takes a dozen lines of code to have associative arrays available using an SQLite memory database, with more flexibility in usage than most AA implementations rigidly built into many fashionable languages. For instance I use memory DBs to store all the (volatile obviously) settings and readings of a series of Lan-enabled (NI Visa) GPIB measurement instruments and I can perform sophisticated calibration sequences accross several of them with only a handful of SQLite statements, using the available AutoIt Visa support. Doing the same with native variants and arrays of AutoIt and proprietary structures and code would be very difficult and error-prone: hundreds of parameters and a fairly large set of constraints between them. Doing the same --even in C[++]-- without SQLite would turn this into a _much_ bigger development. OTOH I also use the same setup to develop applications for my wife's business back office and there again I've finaly found SQLite memory DBs extremely simple to use and powerful. In the two cases, I don't care how much memory is needed for data, nor which size the executable and shared libraries sum up to, nor the overhead these layers have: all this is faster than human brain, so I consider myself lucky. The picture obviously blurs in situations where resources and cycles are less abundant. SQLtiny for MicroChip controllers: anyone? ;-)) _______________________________________________ sqlite-users mailing list [email protected] http://sqlite.org:8080/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sqlite-users
