NAME

ObjStore - Perl Extension For ObjectStore OODBMS

SYNOPSIS

Like perl? Sick of SQL? Ready to try something new? This extension implements something like a relational database management system, except that s/SQL/Perl/ig.

PREREQUISITES

- ObjectStore 5.1 (see http://www.odi.com; evaluations are available!)

- Perl 5.005_03 or 5.005_5x

- Exception::Cxx (only on some operating systems; send email)

See http://www.perl.com/CPAN/authors/id/JPRIT/ !

IS THIS FOR GENERIC C++ OBJECTSTORE OR ONLY PERL?

> I was sort of hoping I'd be able to use perl to write quick-and-dirty data > manipulation scripts to mess around with my databases that are used by my > C++ applications. I don't know if I'd ever need that, but it sounded like > a useful thing to have in the toolbox, so to speak.

My experience with ObjectStore is that it is very low-level. This is an advantage for applications that require the highest level of performance. However, there is nothing that I do with databases that needs such extreme degrees of optimization.

Rather, I value ease of use and ease of change slightly above raw performance. When I designed the perl interface, I was always trying to optimize for these priorities. For example, I decided to start with a common, generic schema. While this requires planning early in development, it gains some big advantages: All perl databases are compatible. All perl databases will never require schema evolution. All perl databases can be edited with a standard perl shell.

Even so, ObjectStore's recent support of DLL schemas allows the seemless integration of application specific C++ objects. For example, a code generator is available (ObjStore-REP-HashRecord) that creates optimized records (ordered, typed tuple of fields -- like a C structure declaration). Recently, I also got PDL properly integrated (ObjStore-Lib-PDL). PDL is a perl extension for matrix mathematics.

I believe the uncommon ability to integrate with everything at the lowest level (C) while still remaining maximally generic and easy to query is unique among database architectures.

see ./INSTALL for hints on installation see ./UPGRADE if you are starting from a prior releases see ./TODO for a list of stuff in the tuit queue see ./CHANGES for a visionary perspective

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This package is free software and is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. It may be used, redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the Perl Artistic License (see http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html)