From: Michael Bevilacqua-Linn <michael.bevilacqualinn@...>
Date: 2007-03-22T08:32:00+09:00
Subject: Re: Object/Relational Mapping is the Vietnam of Computer Science

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How does any of that help you when you want to query your data in a way that
your object model doesn't make easy?  Honest question.  I may not have a lot
of experience with object oriented DBs, but it doesn't take much imagination
to draw parallels between the hierarchical databases that were around in the
70's (or so) and the current crop of OO databases.  How does the OO model
solve the problems that hierarchical mainframe databases failed to?

Bottom line is that (other people's) hard won experience has show that it is
generally unwise to store your data in a format that's easy to get at in one
way, and one way only.  Relational databases, shortcomings of SQL aside, are
still the best way to get at data in a fairly general and speedy fashion.
It doesn't mean they will always be, but as far as OO databases go, well
using a hierarchy as a general data store has been tried.  It didn't work
then.  There's no reason to think it will now.

MBL


On 3/21/07, Sam Smoot <ssmoot@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Ok. I can stand the SQL love-in no longer. :)
>
> Anyone who's actually used db4o:
>
> * Knows it's a perfectly viable solution for the majority of
> applications out today as they don't approach it's limits performance,
> or storage wise
> * Knows it's a simpler database to develop for than generating reams
> of mapping files or accepting the limitations of a system like
> ActiveRecord
> * Knows the *data* is safe because the database is open-source,
> exports *very* easily, and no one is about to timebomb the frameworks
> * Knows that for many common scenarios the performance will wipe the
> floor with many popular RDBMS's
>
> Oh, and "toy" comments are tired. Most developers would probably still
> call Ruby a "toy" language. That doesn't mean they know something you
> don't. More than likely they're just uninformed and biased. I'd hope
> we could do better.
>
>
>

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