DB Libraries:An Alternative to DBMS

By Matt StegmanNovember 22, 2005

Database Choices

• DBMS– Oracle, MySQL, MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL

• DB Libraries– BDE, dbExpress, MS Jet, Berkeley

What’s the Difference?

• Entry point– DBMS works on client-server paradigm– App libraries work directly in your program

• Platform support– DBMS doesn’t care who the client is, so long

as they speak the same language– App libraries must be supported on your

platform

• Locking must be handled in application

Usage Considerations

• End-user installation– Will users need to setup and maintain a

DBMS along with the application?

• Speed and scalability– DBMS designed for tons and tons of data,

dynamic queries– Libraries often designed for smaller data sets,

static queries

• Reusable code

Borland Database Engine

• Interface layer, supports simple databases or connection to DBMS

• Supports SQL queries

• BDE must be installed separately from the application

• Has a global system configuration

• Deprecated in favor of dbExpress, a more abstract interface layer

MS Jet

• Relational DB with SQL

• Available with Microsoft Visual Studio, Visual Basic for Applications

• Uses Data Access Objects (DAO) or ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)

• Feature set is comparable to DBMS

Berkeley DB

• No SQL!• A database is a set of records, each

record has a key and data• How to store multiple fields? Use objects.• Programmer must consider index method:

BTree, hash, or list• Wide platform support: C/C++, Java, Perl,

PHP, Python, etc. on Windows, Linux, UNIX, Mac.

References

• “Beyond Relational Databases”http://www.acmqueue.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=299

• “Microsoft Jet Database Engine Programmer’s Guide”

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/70/proddocs/msjet/jetintro.mspx

• The BDE Support Pagehttp://www.bdesupport.com/

• “Getting Started with Berkeley DB”http://www.sleepycat.com/docs/gsg/CXX/BerkeleyDB-Core-Cxx-GSG.pdfhttp://www.sleepycat.com/docs/gsg/CXX/BerkeleyDB-Core-JAVA-GSG.pdf

Q & A