Version 6 of Why is a homemade database the best database?

Updated 2006-06-01 11:05:30 by suchenwi

Robert Abitbol

I was extremely intrigued a few days ago when I read on this very wiki that using homemade databases is to be preferred to using others' databases: SQL for example.

I cannot find the exact location of this statement. I believe it is in a page on databases obviously.

Now, why would a homemade database be better than an SQL database for example? Anyone has an idea?

NEM Depends on what you mean by "database". You almost certainly don't want to implement your own RDBMS(or other database management system). You may well want to write your own database, though (which is the collection of data that you want a RDBMS to manage). SQL is a language for specifying queries: it is neither a database nor a DBMS.

Robert Abitbol I believe what the t'cler had in mind was an RDBMS tailor-made for a specific project: perhaps a simple text database with all sorts of field indicators, trails, etc.

He implied that this was the best tool for a specific project. Is it?


SYStems First we must differenciate between a database and a DBMS. In a database we can seperate between the meta-data which describe the data model, and the data itself.

A NOT homemade database in this case would mean, a database designed and filled by others, like the yellow pages. And in this case I don't see much harm using such databases actually I would argue it's how we may want to exploit the internet, using other people's databases whenever possible.

Same logic goes within a singe enterprise, if another department already have a filled databases that serve your need, I would say it is harmful to build you own department database which would just duplicate the work and create redundancy.

So my answer is, no, a homemade database is not necessarely the best database.

RS: I'd say the best database is the one that matches the requirements with minimal hassle and resource consumption. So it all depends on the requirements. Maybe A simple database was the page mentioned above? Or Another simple database? A little database API?


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