[Zope] ZTables (Tablula) and SQL databases

[Christopher Petrilli]

On Mon, Mar 22, 1999 at 02:49:15PM -0500, Robert OConnor wrote:
> Looking for some enlightenment:
> <set learning on>

<HAND WAVING>
> I understand that Ztables was formerly Tabula an
> object database.  

By nature anything named "tabula" wouldn't be a pure object database :-)
OODB don't have tables, tables are a relational concept, and I believe
ZTables is a relational database last I checked---b ut then I've never
seen it either, but the implications by Jim/Paul/et. al. are that it is
something along these lines.

> If one were starting from scratch without legacy data
> would it make sense to use an object database instead
> of a relational database?  

Maybe, it all depends on your data, the interdependencies, and what kind
of queries you run, how ad-hoc, and what level of reporting tools you
need.  OODB are mature, but their supporting structure (reporting tools,
modeling tools, and more importantly Zen :-) are quite lacking in my
opinion).

> If so, is ZTables/Tabula a full, robust database
> system that can scale up and exceed the
> features of Oracle or SQLxxx databases?

i doubt it, but then, Oracle/et al are not necessarily the right answer
for all problem sets, it's not a one hammer fits all nails solution.

> What are the pros/cons of Object vs
> Relational databases.

Dear gods, there's thousands of papers written on this topic ;-)
References are faster in OODB, ad-hoc is easier in RDB, and there are a
billion other blends... it's also necessasry to understand network
databases in my mind before you approach OODB.

You just can't generalize to this level, it's impossible, and a "quick"
overview of OODB v. Relational would require about 30 pages :-)

Chris
-- 
| Christopher Petrilli                      ``Television is bubble-gum for
| petrilli@amber.org                          the mind.''-Frank Lloyd Wright