All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

XML & Databases

djberg96 on 2002-03-20T16:54:45

I recently came across the jjohn on 2002-03-20T17:12:20 I'll have to take a careful look at this project. I've been pretty skeptical about XML databases, but this project could make me eat crow. (Did you hear that, Matts? ;-)

XML databases?

autarch on 2002-03-20T23:14:18

XML is a hierarchical language, right?

Hierarchical databases are a thing of the _past_, not the future. The hierarchical data model was replaced by the relational data model for _very_ good reasons.

XML definitely has plenty of uses, but acting as a database is not one of them. Most data does not work well in a hierarchical model and that data which does can just as easily be represented by a relational schema!

Check out Database Debunkings to see more on this, by people who know a lot more about this stuff than I do.

Fabian Pascal is da man!

Re:XML databases?

djberg96 on 2002-03-21T13:53:18

Wow, Fabian Pascal *is* a grumpy man. ;)

Thanks for the link. With all due respect to Mr. Pascal, I think it's worth a shot to at least *try* and get it to work. If the folks who want to do this ultimately fall on their face, so be it. But their not going to simply take FP's word for it.

And who's to say that an XML database engine needs to be a universal solution for *all* data? When you need speed you use C (or Assembler). When you want flexibility and ease of Programming you use Perl, Python or Ruby. The same may be so with an XML database. I think FP assumes that there must be one monolithic solution to all data modelling problems. I say, use the right tool for the right job, and an XML database might just be that tool.

Re:XML databases?

autarch on 2002-03-21T15:18:46

Ok, give me an example of a case where an XML database would be superior to a RDBMS. Be specific and explain why it would be harder to achieve one's goals with the RDBMS instead of the XML database.

FP's real point is that an XML database is exactly like a hierarchical database, a concept pretty much completely abandoned quite a while ago because it wasn't as flexible as an RDBMS. And as importantly, an RDBMS can deal with hierarchical data just as flexibly as a hierarchical DB can.

Re:XML databases?

djberg96 on 2002-03-21T15:53:59

Dammit Jim, I'm a Perl Programmer, not a Data Modeler!

I can't give you an example, though I'm not the person to ask. However, I could just as well argue that flat-text systems like BRS/Search are more flexible and a helluva lot faster than any RDBMS, so why bother with RDBM systems at all?

Maybe people will find that in certain instances, the lack of flexibility will be overcome by their need for an XML-driven database. Or, maybe they'll just get a warm-fuzzy feeling by using an XML-driven database (possibly impressing their buzzword-happy bosses in the process).

Re:XML databases?

autarch on 2002-03-21T16:09:48

I can't give you an example, though I'm not the person to ask. However, I could just as well argue that flat-text systems like BRS/Search [opentext.com] are more flexible and a helluva lot faster than any RDBMS, so why bother with RDBM systems at all?

You could argue that, but you'd be wrong, so why would you bother. Not that fulltext indexes aren't useful, but they're not more flexible than an RDBMS by any means.

I still don't see a _need_ for an XML database.