Hi,
I'm looking to create a prog that will store disparate bits of info all linked together, i.e. address details for a person, transaction records, specific themes, and the ability to search by certain criteria, so I'm pretty sure I want a database.
Can anyone recommend a useful database library for Python that's not too complex?
Most Python database access modules implement the Python DB-API. This is a standard API created by the Python community. As a result most Python database libraries are pretty similar from the programmer's point of view.
See the Database Topic Guide for the DB-API spec and links to modules that support it. http://www.python.org/topics/database/
Also, I keep hearing about SQL, would this be the best way to go? I don't know much about databases.
SQL is a standardized language for giving commands to databases. Most (all?) industrial-strength databases use SQL as their command language. (DB-API is actually a wrapper around SQL - it standardizes the API to issue a SQL command and read the results.)
SQL is kind of a strange beast and has a style and learning curve all its own. It is worth learning if you expect to be using databases much in your future. There are some light-weight databases that don't use SQL (KirbyBase and MetaKit are two) but all of the major ones do.
A couple of pages that might help you make a choice: http://www.python.org/moin/DatabaseInterfaces http://www.python.org/moin/ChoosingDatabase
Note that DB-API and SQL don't provide 100% portability between databases; there are differences in the details that can trip you up.
Kent
Regards,
Liam Clarke
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