online - dbs

Blitzkrieger

Is there any sort of handy dbms around suitable for online use with a good API? Or do I have to go program one myself

For some reason we've never learned much about the web in college (which is ridiculous).

kayos

Why not just connect with VPN and use your exsisting DBMS?

Blitzkrieger

ummm .......... I don't have an existing database.

Whats VPN?

kayos

Firstly VPN is virtual private networking which allows you to connect into a network over the web we use it a good bit.

It looks lie I miss understood your first post what exactly is it you want. To manage a db over the web or a db for a web app/site type thing...

kayos

Blitzkrieger

It's a db for a web/app site type thing I figure I can't go wrong with my 4th year project if I say "online database". 'specially with the gimp who's supervising this year

Void

Use MySQL. http://www.mysql.com
It's Open Source, and free for non commercial use. You can run it on a Linux machine, and download a Win32 ODBC driver that let's you connect to it easily with Access or whatever on Windoze. There's a nifty C++ API with it as well. It's very simple to set up, and the API is quite neat.

Alternatively you could set up MSSQL Server and use ASP or whatever, but you'ld have to pay for that (you wouldn't pirate it would you!?) and it's a Microsoft product and blah blah etc. Go with MySQL. It has good PHP support as well.

ecksor

If you want something a bit more heavy weight but still free, check out http://www.interbase.com/ and http://www.postgresql.org/

Something like this might be impressive ... http://www.poet.com/products/oss/oss.html ?

Read http://openacs.org/philosophy/why-not-mysql.html before you decide if mysql is suitable for your needs.

Draco

Originally posted by Void:
but you'ld have to pay for that (you wouldn't pirate it would you!?) and it's a Microsoft product and blah blah etc

Possibly not. There was a deal made with the colleges a few years ago and AFAIK they got cheapo MSDN subscriptions and since MSSQL is in that...

Of course, I could be completely wrong.

Draco

kayos

Hold up MSSQL is one of the best SQL 2000 is kicking oracle around the place. And please stop all this "microsoft is ..." sort of stuff. I know their a pack of b*(&^%&s but with out them IBM would still have us back in the dark ages. Computer would never have become so popular so quickly if we were stuck with a command promt for much longer. They did a good job

kayos

ButcherOfNog

on this subject, anyone used MSDE as a backend on the web? I know MS say it goes knobbly (tm) with more than 5 concurrent users, but its SQL7 license free ...

if you used it for this project, u can $hite on about how scalable it is

Void

****ing stall lads.
I never said SQL Server 7 was ****e. It's actually deadly (6.5 was another story). All my work is done with it.
If I was a student though, I'd use MySQL because it uses ANSI SQL. You shouldn't get used to working with T-SQL as it spoils you.
I have no grudge against Microsoft, I just wouldn't constrain myself to working solely with their tools. MySQL is a great RDBMS to start with. That PostgreSQL is supposed to be the ******, it only became freeware recently and it comes out top on a lot of benchmarks. Haven't used it though....
Haven't heard about cheap M$ stuff for colleges, maybe coz I don't got to college no more

On a related note, does anybody know anything about the big ****foff monster package you can get from Microsoft, the one with ALL their developer products and a sitewide licence?? How much does it cost?

Draco

Originally posted by Void:

On a related note, does anybody know anything about the big ****foff monster package you can get from Microsoft, the one with ALL their developer products and a sitewide licence?? How much does it cost?

That would be the MSDN subscription. It costs ~$2.5K to start off with.

Draco

regi

An even better one than the MSDN subscription is the MS Direct Access scheme (here too). If you are a registered company, you can get a load of software dead cheap so you can expand your skillset and generally get better at developing with MS stuff. I think it weighs in at a couple of hundred quid.

Its true about being spoiled by T-SQL - its got so many nice addons, you can easily find yourself ignoring the ANSI SQL way 'cos there's a much easier way with SQL7. They aren't the only culprits though - I've just finished a project using Oracle 8 and they are just as bad at ignoring some ANSI SQL elements, and replacing them with their own proprietary stuff.

If you are stuck for a windows platform, or you haven't got the time to learn a new platform, access is better than what it used to be. But... it still sucks really (memory leakville). MySQL is nice at what it does - it could be a little more userfriendly to the new user (like most *nix ) and afaik, it doesn't support really cool stuff like transactions.

My personal preference would be for SQL7 - it beats ****e out of SQL 6.5, and I reckon its just as reliable and fast as Oracle 8i for 99.9% of the world's applications, without all the PAIN and AGONY that goes with Oracle. There's also rumours about a cutdown version of SQL 7 coming out with a 4 gig limit and a really attractive pricetag - maybe even free.