[Zope] ZTables is going to die?

[Kent Polk]

On 30 Mar 2000 14:15:01 -0600, Michel Pelletier wrote:
>
>Besides, TinyTables could be updated to support more efficient data
>structures like the BTrees that ZTables and ZCatalog use.  ZCatalog + a
>more efficient TinyTables is probably 99% of ZTables.

TinyTables was originally intended to provide an easier way to
manage small, static queryable tables than creating a bunch of SQL
tables. It was developed for a QA-reporting system that had many
static code and reference tables that would be easier to manage if
they were in the object database. They turned out to be quite handy
for a number of other purposes, as shown by their popularity.

We considered adding more features such as record editing, etc and
possibly those should be pursued. However, I suspect that TinyTables
ought to remain somewhat true to its original purpose, and if more
capabilities are needed, another approach should be used, even if
the basic concepts remain.

We wandered into the data mining realm, with excellent results on
a per table basis, but since Zope doesn't really have a mechanism
for connecting such objects according to the user's specification,
we pretty much hit a brick wall for now.  What Zope (IMO) needs is
a datamining interface for all such queryable objects. Such a
capability would go far beyond what both ZTables and the SQL objects
now provide. We are still thinking about the issues. If you have
input on this topic, I'd sure like to hear it.

In this context, 'Datamining' lets the user build table object
queries and see the results interactively, complete with subsetting,
sorting, formatting, expression evaluation, grouping, statistical
summaries, different table 'views', etc.  Basically all the common
stuff except table joins. This was for a population genetics research
project intended to investigate the ability of users to browse and
query a very large set of genetic database tables (thousands of
constantly-changing tables).  Somewhat similar to a data ocean as
described in "Mirror Worlds" where data constantly sloshes into
the ocean from the ABI labs, etc. :^)