ODBMS Industry Watch

Are object databases "NoSQL" technologies? Part II

2009-12-02T07:24:00.001-08:00

I asked the opinion of another ODBMS vendor on the topic of "NoSQL databases": Luis Ramos who is Principal Systems Engineer at Progress Software.

RVZ: Luis, how do you position yourself with respect to the so called "NoSQL" databases?:

Luis Ramos: We view many of the characteristics of the growing "NoSQL" movement as a market reaction to the realities of present day cloud-based data requirements, where ACID properties are not as important as performance, the bulk of the data's schema is not as complex, and the corresponding queries are relatively simple. Gone could be the days of complex relational schemas and the DBAs that are needed to maintain and administer them. Similar phenomena have been seen in other areas. For example in programming languages, the reaction against the very complex and error prone C++ led to the popularity of Java.

In many respects, object databases can be classified as "NoSQL" technology. It satisfies many of the pivotal characteristics of today's "NoSQL" data stores. Object databases have been around since the late 1980s in response to the needs and requirements initially of the CAD market. At that time, the CAD practitioners needed an approach to data management that was fundamentally different than that provided by the relational databases. Consequently, a whole new breed of non relational (object-oriented) databases emerged. Customers from other markets, whose requirements could not be met by SQL databases, followed. Call it the original "NoSQL" movement? We certainly agree with Robert Greene's stipulation that "one size does not fit all."
An alternative way to put it is "You can put lipstick on a 'relational table' but its still a 'relational table'".

The schema-free characteristic that one finds in many "NoSQL" technologies is not entirely new. This is a requirement of many eCommerce applications developed in the 90s. There are object databases that support this nicely, enabling applications to store, manage, and index key/value based data, another key characteristic of "NoSQL" technology. The schema seems very simple but may be challenging to implement in a relational database because the value type is arbitrary.

The horizontal scaling characteristic is another key requirement that object databases more easily supports. Multiple terabytes databases have been successfully deployed. These object database systems have a client-centric (rather than a server-centric) architecture. Data is distributed to the client and queries are performed on the client instead of on monolithic servers. Consequently, the data can be partitioned, replicated, and scaled much more easily without being tied down to the hardware limitations of a single server computer.

So indeed, object database systems could be considered "NoSQL" technologies. They can be utilized either as a persistent store for data as well as a cache.

Are object databases "NoSQL" technologies?

2009-11-24T10:20:00.000-08:00

This time, I wanted to ask the opinion of an ODBMS vendor on the topic of "NoSQL databases". I therefore asked Robert Charles Greene, V.P. Open Source Operations, at Versant Corporation.

RVZ: Robert, you represent an ODBMS vendor, what is your opinion of the so called "NoSQL databases"? Are object databases "NoSQL" technologies?

Robert Charles Greene:
I find that lots of folks are getting all worked up over the dubbed "No SQL" movement. I guess it`s because one can easily make assumptions and draw a would be obvious analogy to a "No Relational" movement and that would certainly be something to get worked up over.

As the object database guy, I see the core message being conveyed as, "one size does not fit all" when it comes to data management. That`s a far cry from abandoning the SQL approach to data management and in my mind leaves little to defend, though some seem to feel threatened enough by the catch phrase to sound the alarm.

In some sense, this notion that "one size does not fit all" is an important change in attitude, because for many years one size fits all was prevalent. Only as the internet gave way to the masses and large scale concurrency and data generation ushered in a new era has the relational way of doing data management truly begun to break down, opening the door to alternatives.

The "right tool for the job" has once again become a mantra of the software development community and equally important, the mantra of the decision makers in Enterprise I.T. As evidence, one has to look no further than the proliferation of data warehousing solutions outside the realm of relational database technology, ironically, to support the adhoc query and analytics, the founding pillars of the past which brought the relational database to such high esteem. Indeed, necessity may well be the mother of invention, for if not, it would most certainly be the father of adoption. So, if the RDB is no longer the king of query, then really, what is there to get all worked up about if necessity drives adoption in yet even more directions.

So, what is this NoSQL movement all about and does it warrant the public espousal of opinions. Well, as stated above, this is an important change in attitude which will bring valuable choices to our industry making us better equipped to deal with today`s infrastructure challenges, so yes, indeed it is worth discussion.

Michael Stonebreaker decided it was important to comment on this "movement" and gave an interesting NoSQL perspective here (courtesy of ACM).

I largely agree with the technical elements of his perspective, though I would suggest as in the above, the slightly different perspective that the core message is, "one size does not fit all". I encourage the reader to then keep this in mind as they engage in a broader understanding of what these exciting new technologies provide.

Also, it is worth pointing out, while many of the technologies involved in the NoSQL movement do sacrifice ACID as a means to achieve their end in both performance and scalability, most object databases are ACID compliant and one might argue are the original NoSQL movement.

But lets not digress, as even Michal asserts, the NoSQL movement is not about SQL. So, while object databases are by and large "NoSQL" technologies, they are not a kind of Query-less technology. Indeed, while today`s modern object databases embrace the requirement for distributed parallel query processing, they also hold true to the core tenants of large scale distribution, object clustering and parallel processing all in the context of an ACID compliant transaction. These features surround a robust environment for dealing with arbitrarily complex object models, an area in which many of the NoSQL movement participants fall short.

In summary, the "one size does not fit all" change in attitude is healthy and beneficial for all.
To that end, the object database, a continuing NoSQL movement participant, is one more tool in the developers tool chest, enabling successful implementation of complex software systems of scale.

Cheers,
-Robert

Kaj Arnö and Michael Stonebraker on "NoSQL databases"

2009-11-23T03:58:00.000-08:00

This time, I asked Kaj Arnö (MySQL), what does he think of "NoSQL databases". Read his reply below.

RVZ

RVZ: What is your opinion of the so called "NoSQL databases"?

Kaj Arnö :
NoSQL is a catchy name, which in char(5) captures a lot of thinking.
To be technical, it's not merely about removing SQL, but about removing most relational database overhead (where SQL, although dominant, is just an implementation of a query language). And some of that overhead is clearly not necessary all the time. It's a lot of protocol to implement all aspects of ACID compliance, and it isn't always needed. Especially in the early days of MySQL, we were accused of cutting corners -- for instance through MyISAM not being fully ACID. Still, MyISAM was used a lot, and it still is. Coming back to the NoSQL debate, I would say that the MySQL idea of cutting overhead is gaining traction in other tools, which may choose to cut larger chunks or different corners. That's a healthy development, since the
shortcuts to be taken depend on the class of application.

Kaj

Kaj joined MySQL in 2001, after 14 years as an entrepreneur. Serving as VP Services, VP Engineering and other exec roles at MySQL, he has been the VP in charge of MySQL Community Relations since 2005, continuing that position in Sun Microsystems. A native of Finland, Kaj lives in Munich since 2006. He devotes his free time to launching Runnism, the Religion of Running.

Moreover, there has been a recent post by professor Michael Stonebraker related to the topic “No SQL” databases and their performance with respect to classical relational database systems.

In his post, titled "The "NoSQL" Discussion has Nothing to Do With SQL", Prof. Stonebraker argues that "blinding performance depends on removing overhead. Such overhead has nothing to do with SQL, but instead revolves around traditional implementations of ACID transactions, multi-threading, and disk management. To go wildly faster, one must remove all four sources of overhead, discussed above. This is possible in either a SQL context or some other context."
The Link to Stonebraker`s Blog (courtesy of ACM).

I also published an article of David Chappell: "Introducing Windows Azure". The paper describes Microsoft`s Windows Azure. In fact, the "Tables" abstraction in Windows Azure is similar to some "nosql databases". You can download the paper (.PDF) here.

Patrick Linskey on "cloud store"

2009-11-16T04:29:00.000-08:00

I have asked Patrick Linskey on his opinion on the new wave of "data stores", such as "document stores", and "nosql databases".

You can read the interview below.

Roberto V. Zicari

RVZ:
Patrick, there has been recently a proliferation of "data stores", such as "document stores", and "nosql databases".
Systems such as CouchDB, MongoDB, SimpleDB, Voldemort, Scalaris, etc. provide less functionality than OODBs but a distributed "object" cache over multiple machines.

See for example: wiki/Nosql,
wiki/wiki/Document-oriented_database,
and the article: NoSQL: Distributed and Scalable Non-Relational Database Systems.

What do you think about it?

Patrick Linskey:
I think that the "cloud store" subset of them are pretty fascinating. Of course, as with so much in the software industry, much of what these projects are doing is old hat. But I think that they're relatively unique in
(a) successfully combining compelling complementary sets of features together,
(b) building solutions for known and needed use cases, rather than the more ivory-tower approach that's all too typical of commercial products, and
(c) designing and implementing in a manner oriented to cloud-scale deployment from the very start (i.e., lots of data; geographically diverse data centers; high load requirements).

I expect that all the successful cloud store projects will end up with support for declarative queries and declarative secondary keys. I really don't like the "nosql" term -- I think that Geir Magnusson does a good job of pointing out that the cloud store community is more focused on "alongside SQL". That is, there's nothing wrong with using a relational database in the situations where it's the best tool for the job. The new cloud stores are focused on filling the gaps where most RDB alternatives fall flat.

The way they do it, of course, is by getting rid of problematic features. I think that some of the hype has mis-identified these
problematic features, though. Declarative queries (and full metamodel introspection) and secondary key support are really cool and critical features of all the popular relational databases. The cloud store users out there are doing a lot of extra work because of the absence of these features -- essentially re-implementing them in their application code. Imagine how horrible it'd be if you told a modern DB team that they needed to change their app to tune their database!

So: what are cloud stores omitting that enable them to scale so well?
There are two answers:
- cloud stores are intentionally designed to scale. No* single points of failure, built-in support for consensus-based decisions, partitioning / replication as basic primitives, etc. Taking a codebase designed for a single server and evolving it to a multi-server solution is difficult, since single-machine assumptions often calcify into the implementation.

- more importantly, cloud stores aren't fully ACID, in the traditional sense of the term. By re-casting the data storage problem in more amenable terms (eventual consistency, atomic operations (but not atomic sequences of operations), etc.), the different products can make acceptable trade-offs that traditional single-server ACID stores are simply designed to forbid.

I'd love to see a comparison of established products like TeraData and Coherence to the various new cloud store projects. TeraData, in particular, does an interesting job of re-using the familiar SQL/JDBC model while making a lot of the same compromises and architectural decisions as the new set of cloud stores.

(I'm less interested in -- and educated about -- the single-server nosql projects. These days, I believe that all single-server databases are basically equivalent, since if you are using a single server, your application is sufficiently simple that you should be able to be successful with any of a number of data storage models.)

-Patrick

Patrick Linskey has been involved in object/relational mapping and databases for the last decade. As the founder and CTO of SolarMetric, Patrick drove the technical direction of the company and oversaw the development of Kodo, through its acquisition by BEA. At BEA, Patrick led the EJB team in designing and implementing the WebLogic Server EJB 3.0 solution, and represented BEA on the JDO and EJB3 expert groups. He is a contributor to the Apache OpenJPA project.

Since leaving Oracle, Patrick has worked on a number of projects, ranging from traditional three-tier web and mobile applications to C# peer - to - peer client applications with custom-designed distributed storage solutions.

3rd International Conference on Objects and Databases 2010

2009-11-08T23:27:00.000-08:00

I am happy to inform you that the 3rd International Conference on Objects and Databases (ICOODB), will take place on September 28-30, 2010, at the Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

The previous edition of ICOODB took place this year at ETH in Zurich.

RVZ

"document stores", "nosql databases" vs. ODBMS.

2009-10-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

There is a growing interest in our community in having resources published in ODBMS.ORG, which compare & contrast ODBMS with other "data stores", such as "document stores", and "nosql databases".

Systems such as CouchDB, MongoDB, SimpleDB, Voldemort, Scalaris, etc. provide less functionality than OODBs but a distributed "object" cache over multiple machines.

I plan to add a number of new resources on that in the next months to come.

RVZ

ODBMS.ORG: Over 40,000 visitors a month

2009-10-02T05:03:00.000-07:00

Last month, September 2009, was the best month ever for ODBMS.ORG!

We had 40,370 visitors...

Thank you.

RZ

ODBMS.ORG listed in the IBM official Courseware

2009-09-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

I am glad to inform you that ODBMS.ORG is listed under the IBM Academic Initiative, in their official Courseware: A Catalog of Educational Materials:

ODBMS.org
"The Object Database Management Systems portal provides the most up-to-date collection of free materials on object database technology on the Internet."

Here is the link: IBM Academic Initiative - Courseware.

RVZ

Several new resources published in ODBMS.ORG

2009-09-11T13:27:00.001-07:00

I have published several new resources in ODBMS.ORG:

- A new User Report, (number 32/09), by Dr. Andreas Geppert at Credit Suisse, Switzerland.
Andreas Geppert is a Platform Architect. Gepperts tell us that the strategy of his bank is to buy IT infrastructures whenever possible, and avoid developing them in-house. When asked if they had an "impedance mismatch" problem in the bank, Geppert replied: "We certainly have an impedance mismatch problem, in particular as we are increasingly developing new applications in Java accessing relational databases such as Oracle and DB2."
You can read the full report in the Object Databases - User Reports Section.

- A Link to download Databeans.
Databeans is an object oriented persistence framework for Java, available under GPL. The link is available here.

-A Link to download ConceptBase.
ConceptBase is a multi-user deductive and object-oriented database system for meta modeling and method engineering, developed by Tilburg University. It is freely available under a FreeBSD-style license. The link is available here.

- Databeans Tutorial for Java version 2.0.
You can download the tutorial (PDF) in the Object Databases - Tutorials Section.

- Slides of a course based on ConceptBase, developed by Tilburg University.
The slides are under a permissive Creative Commons license, and are available here.

I would also like to welcome a new Expert Manfred Jeusfeld, who has just joined the ODBMS.ORG`s panel of Experts.

Hope you`ll find the resources useful. And as always, all resources in ODBMS.ORG are freely accessible!

RVZ

InterSystems supports ODBMS.ORG

2009-09-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

I am glad to report that InterSystems is now supporting ODBMS.ORG

InterSystems is the provider of the object database Caché. If you are interested, you can evaluate Caché

New updated version (2009) of the ETH Zurich ODBMS Lecture Series.

2009-08-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

I`d like to mention that I have published a complete new updated version (2009) of the ETH Zurich ODBMS Lecture Series on ODBMS.ORG (PDF).

This is by far the most up-to-date and comprehensive lecture series on object databases, developed by Michael Grossniklaus, and Moira Norrie at the renowned Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich.

For the 2009 version of ETH Zurich's lecture on Object-oriented databases a number of additions and updates have been made:
- New lecture providing a Versant tutorial
- New lecture discussing different OODBMS architectures
- Updated lectures on db4objects incorporating new features such as transparent persistence and activation.
- Updated lectures on the OM model of data, OML and OMS Avon
- Many corrections of errata throughout the whole course.

RVZ

Interview to Vinton G. Cerf.

2009-07-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

Together with Marco Dettweiler, I had the pleasure to interview Vinton G. Cerf. You can read the interview below. Hope you find it interesting.
RVZ

Vinton G. Cerf is vice president and chief Internet evangelist for Google. Widely known as one of the "Fathers of the Internet," Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December 1997, President Clinton presented the U.S. National Medal of Technology to Cerf and his partner, Robert E. Kahn, for founding and developing the Internet. In November 2005, Vinton Cerf and Kahn were awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush for their contributions to the creation of the Internet. Cerf was a leading contender to be designated the nation's first Chief Technology Officer by President Barack Obama.

Questions (Marco Dettweiler- FAZ.NET, Roberto V. Zicari- ODBMS.ORG)

Q1. The Future of the Internet.
Mr. Cerf, the Internet was created in the 70s, and it now serves as the infrastructure for the World Wide Web, which was created later in the early 90s. The introduction of the Web has changed the way Internet was used dramatically and at the same time opened up the Internet to all kinds of commercial/social possibilities, which were not possible before.

- Why did it take so long before the Web was invented?

Vinton G. Cerf: It should be remembered that Douglas Engelbart led the invention of the oNLine System (NLS) at SRI International in the mid-late 1960s and early 1970s. This system, while running only on one computer, was accessible through the ARPANET and later the Internet. It had hypertext notions and pointing and clicking of a mouse (also invented by Engelbart). This was a popular system used by the ARPANET community. There were other experiments such as Gopher at University of Minnesota, the Wide Area Information System (WAIS), ARCHIE and VERONICA, to name a few. Most of these were text based. Tim Berners-Lee developed his WWW idea around 1989 while at CERN but the big explosion came when Marc Andreesen implemented a version of WWW called Mosaic (a graphical interface browser for the WWW). He went on to develop Netscape Navigator as a founder of Netscape Communications. In some ways, these inventions had to wait until powerful desk and laptops became available and the bandwidths of access to the Internet exceeded the slower world of dial-up Internet. Moreover, the general public did not see much of this until the 1994 debut of Netscape Communications. Sometimes things can only happen when conditions are ripe for them to happen.

- What are the weak and strong points of the Web?

Vinton G. Cerf: Perhaps the strongest point has been its flexibility and highly distributed nature.
Anyone can create content, in virtually any language, and share it with the world. It has opened up an avenue for voices that might never otherwise have been heard. It has evolved in dramatic ways to include software that can move from server to client, re-purposing the client's functions (e.g. through Java and JavaScript). Of course, it has permitted all forms of media (text, sound, imagery, video) to be intermingled in a rich tapestry. On the other side, it can be vulnerable to viruses, worms, trojan horses. It can be used to harm others through fraud, misinformation, stalking, libel, cyber-bullying and so on. It contains an enormous amount of information that would be impossible to navigate, but for search engines and hyperlinks that help to find paths to information of interest. We need to make much more secure the web browsers and web servers to protect against harmful software ("badware" or "malware") that steals computer cycles and turns machines into "zombies" that form "botnet" armies. Some malware can infect machines in such a way that private information such as account numbers, passwords and other personal data can be revealed and abused.

- What is in your opinion, the next evolution/revolution for the Web/Internet?

Vinton G. Cerf: It is already happening. Mobiles have become an increasingly integral part of the Web/Internet.
They will become sensor devices that help us detect hazards or capture our daily travels and then warn us if we have been anywhere that might have been hazardous to our health. More appliances will become Internet-enabled, allowing them to be controlled through the Internet. We will use this capability to manage our entertainment systems, to control our use of energy, to increase the efficiency and security of homes and office buildings. We will instrument our cars and capture data to help us maintain their operation. We will make more and more use of the Web to collaborate in real time using all forms of media. We will enhance our ability to communicate even when we speak different languages and need to work together in groups. Of course, I am also very excited by the prospect of extending the Internet to operate across the solar system by augmenting its protocols with a new suite and overcome the inherent delays and disruption of inter-planetary communication. These innovations will help to support extended exploration of our solar system through robotic and manned missions.

- What are the most important challenges we will face in the future in your opinion?

Vinton G. Cerf: Security, privacy, and authentication of the users and systems of the Internet. Preservation of digital information and the software that is needed to interpret it. Operation of the Internet at increasingly large scale with more users, termination points and devices. Operation of the Internet with an increasing number of mobile components.

Q2. The resources on the Internet are not unlimited.
In next years there will be likely problems with IP-Adresses. By 2011 you predicted that all IP-Addresses will be taken. With no new IP-addresses available, no new users can be added to the Web. There is a consensus that we need to change to ipv6 with 128 Bit.

- Do you agree?

Vinton G. Cerf: Yes, absolutely.

- And if yes, how fast should the industry do this?

Vinton G. Cerf: They need to begin to implement IPv6 in parallel with IPv4. Companies like Google need to implement services with both protocols (and Google has done so), so that users who have only IPv6 addresses will be able to reach services as easily as those with the older IPv4 addresses. ISPs should begin implementing and offering IPv6 service and should
work to interconnect themselves using IPv6 as richly and densely as they have interconnected with IPv4.

- Is there any consequences for the users and companies using the Web?

Vinton G. Cerf: Yes, if we do not have widespread implementation of IPv6, then the Internet may become fragmented into IPv4 and IPv6 islands that are not linked.

- And if yes, which ones?
- Do you foresee any further problems in the future?

Vinton G. Cerf: I think the major problems are increasing the security and resilience of the Internet, coping with mobility, implementation of IPv6, implementation of non-Latin character sets in the Domain Name System, and just coping with the operation of a vastly larger Internet than in the past.

Q3. How much rules and regulation needs the Web/Internet?
- Should the creation of content on the Web/Internet be regulated?

Vinton G. Cerf: I think this is an extremely delicate question. None of us likes spam. We don't like viruses and worms and trojan horses. Child pornography is universally condemned. On the other hand, censorship can be abused as a political weapon. It can be used to undermine democratic principles and freedom of expression. Perhaps the best analogy is the abuse of the road system by drinking and driving. In most modern societies, this is considered socially unacceptable and if drunken drivers are caught there are consequences. We don't stop building vehicles to use the roads and we don't stop building roads, but we do warn drivers about the consequences of violating the "rules of the road." Perhaps the Internet needs to be treated in a similar fashion. We may not be able to stop all abuses a priori, but we can agree to enforce rules if violators are caught.

- Why?
- In Germany, the Government is trying to forbid the use of specific Web sites with illegal contents, such as child pornography. What is your position on this? And what would be a solution to this problem in your opinion?

Vinton G. Cerf: The essential issue here has to do with enforcement as well as the preservation of "speech" that should be protected and permitted. In the United States this right is built into our Constitution in the form of the First Amendment. On the other hand, not all speech is protected. Theft, fraud, child pornography and the propagation of malware is illegal and violators are prosecuted. For the most part, the Internet Service Providers and Application Service Providers are
not expected to be enforcers, although the Digital Millennium Copyright Act does require that online servers take down (remove) content that has been identified as illegal. Because the Internet is so distributed and accessible, operators of its services are often dependent on its users to signal the discovery of inappropriate information. Many application service providers and Internet service providers have provisions in their terms of service that allow them to remove abusive content or to terminate service contracts for abuse of these terms. The focus of law enforcement should be on the violators
who abuse the Internet's services, not on the providers of its infrastructure, in my estimation.

Q4. Web and copyright.
- What is your position with respect to the problem of copyright infringements on the Web?

Vinton G. Cerf: The problem in part is that the Web works by copying. The browser copies a file from a web server and then interprets it for presentation. Copyright has historically worked by controlling the distribution of fixations of works in physical form (books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, newspapers, video cassettes, LP records and so on). In some countries, "fair use" permits copying of small amounts of information for academic, pedagogical or journalistic purposes. Personal copies
may be made for backup in many cases. Digital information is easily copied and distributed and that poses a problem for traditional copyright. It is also worth noting that while creators of information are implicitly its owners under the Berne Convention, many creators want to share this information in more flexible ways than traditional copyright allows.
The Creative Commons and "copyleft" ideas are examples of attempts to broaden the options for intellectual property
creators and owners. I believe that we will need to construct new intellectual property regimes to take into account the properties of the Internet. It will take some creative thinking among technologists and legislators to discover alternatives to the present and rather antiquated copyright concepts that are not working well in the Internet universe.

- For example, Google is currently scanning millions of books for a digital Online-Full-Text-Search. Classical publishing companies do not like this, as they say this is a copyright infringement. What is your position on this?

Vinton G. Cerf: I believe that there is benefit to the publishers to have their works indexed so that they can be discovered by users of the World Wide Web.
I don't think there is any debate about works that have entered the public domain. Nor is there debate about books still in print and covered by copyright (Google has agreements with such publishers as to indexing of these works and display of small snippets of them). The debate revolves around books that are no longer in print but possibly still under copyright. It is sometimes very hard to determine the rights holders of these works. Google and others are looking for some way to make these works known to the users of the World Wide Web.
This is not the same as releasing the full content of such works. Indexing helps people find works of interest after which they may need to purchase the works from bookstores, find them in their own libraries or public libraries, borrow from friends, and so on. If there were an agreeable regime for making such works more accessible, it would benefit everyone interested in their contents. It is the fashioning of an acceptable regime that is at the center of most debate, as I understand it.
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ODBMS.ORG new resources

2009-07-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

I have published some new resources on ODBMS.ORG. Hope you`ll find them useful.

Object Databases - Free Software:

GemStone Systems
GLASS a free ODBMS for the Seaside web framework.
GLASS: GemStone, Linux, Apache, Seaside, and Smalltalk.
Software | Basic | English | LINK | 2009

McObject
Download an open source / evaluation copy of the Perst™ embedded database for Java or .NET.
Software | Basic | English | LINK | 2009

Object Databases - Tutorials:

Apache CouchDB
CouchDB Tutorial.
CouchDB Tutorial slides presented at ICOODB09
Tutorial | Basic | English | DOWNLOAD (PDF) | 2009 |

db4objects
Formula 1 Tutorial for Java or .NET
New version of the db4o tutorials: with new features and a new OME. The quick start to get up and running with db4o's object database in 5 minutes or less.
Tutorial | Basic | English | DOWNLOAD for JAVA (PDF) or .NET (PDF) | 2009 |

GemStone
Learning Web Development with Seaside.
Seaside is a free, open-source (MIT License) web application development framework written in Smalltalk. This tutorial covers Seaside, GLASS, and persistence using the GemStone/S ODBMS.
Tutorial | Basic | English | LINK | 2009 |

McObject
Perst for Java or .NET- Introduction and Tutorial.
Perst™ open source, dual license, object-oriented embedded database system for Java or .NET.
Tutorial | Basic | English | for Java (LINK) | or for .NET (LINK) | 2009 |

McObject
Tutorial: Introduction to Perst Lite and ProScout Example MIDlet.
Perst Lite is an open source, object-oriented embedded database system for Java ME-based mobile devices.
Tutorial | Basic | English | LINK | 2009 |

BEST Pattern Award to Query Visitor by Adrian Marriott

2009-07-03T01:15:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Zurich.

The BEST Pattern Award is....

Pattern: Query Visitor (download .PDF)
Author: Adrian Marriott,Principal Consultant, Progress Software Inc.

2nd Place:
Pattern: Schema Builder (download .PDF)
Author: Richard Lingeh,Principal Consultant, Versant.

3rd Place:
Pattern: Bespoke Indexes (download .PDF)
Author: Adrian Marriott,Principal Consultant, Progress Software Inc.

The Awards ceremony took place on July 2, 2009, at the ICOODB 2009 conference in Zurich, during the evening reception.

All 25 persistent patterns submitted are available for free download (LINK).

3 Most Voted Persistent Model Patterns...

2009-06-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

We now have the results of the Public Voting for choosing the most valuable Persistent Model Patterns!

The 3 most voted patterns are...

Pattern: Bespoke Indexes. (download .PDF)
Author: Adrian Marriott,Principal Consultant, Progress Software Inc.
Intent: For programs that require the absolute maximum of performance and scalability it is necessary to write programs that utilize novel data structures and new algorithms designed with detailed knowledge of the specific problem context. Support the most critical use-cases of your system directly with bespoke persistent index structures that optimize read and write operations across the objects used by those use-cases.

Pattern: Query Visitor. (download .PDF)
Author: Adrian Marriott,Principal Consultant, Progress Software Inc.
Intent: Represents a query to be performed on the elements of a persistent object structure. Query Visitor allows you to define new result set formats without changing the underlying persistent object model, and avoids polluting the persistent classes with rendering logic.

Pattern: Schema Builder.(download .PDF)
Author: Richard Lingeh,Principal Consultant, Versant.
Intent: This pattern allows any further evolution of a database after a complete modification of the client application model to be done by a separate schema process and not by the client application or by the schema it generates. This separate process generates a database schema that matches the complex evolving client application model.

The Awards ceremony will take place on July 2, 2009, at the ICOODB 2009 conference in Zurich.

All 25 persistent patterns submitted are available for free download (LINK).

25 free seats for Students for Tutorials at ICOODB 2009

2009-06-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

If you are a BA or a MSc student, and you are interested in attending one or more tutorials at the International Conference on Object Databases (ICOODB) on July 1, 2009, at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, then there are some good news for you...

25 free seats for BA and MSc students are available on a first come first serve base for the following tutorials:

- Full Day Tutorial (10:00-12:00 and 14:00-17:00): Introduction to Object Databases.
Rick Cattell together with speakers from db4o, Objectivity, ObjectStore and Versant

- Half Day Tutorial (morning 10:00-12:00): Learn CouchDB.
Jan Lehnardt, CouchDB

- Half Day Tutorial (afternoon 14:00-17:00): Converting EERM into ODMG's ODL Constructs.
Joseph Vella, University of Sheffield

- Half Day Tutorial (afternoon 14:00-17:00): Using C# for .Net with an ODBMS.
Nic Caine and Leon Guzenda, Objectivity Inc.

If you wish to qualify for this offer, please e-mail (Subject: ICOODB Tutorials), your name, contact details and name of your University to:
editor AT odbms.org
The first 25 will receive a free registration, which will enable you to attend any of the above tutorials.

The offer is valid for students only.

Hope it helps.

RVZ

Public voting is open! Awards for the most valuable Persistent Model Patterns.

2009-05-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Here we are.. the Public Voting for choosing the most valuable Persistent Model Patterns (among the submissions received to ODBMS.ORG by May 29, 2009 ) is now open!

WHAT WILL BE AWARDED?

The ODBMS.ORG Awards is for the 3 patterns which will receive the highest votes.

WHICH PATTERNS?

25 patterns comprise the set of submissions received by May 29, 2009:

Matthew Barker, Director of System Engineering, Versant Corp.
Pattern: Large Persistent Collection.

Robert Greene , Vice President, Versant Corp.
Pattern: Persistent Versioned Graph Pattern.

Lenny Hoffman, Todd Stavish, Dr Nic Caine, Brian Clark. Objectivity, Inc.
Pattern: Dynamic Schemas in object database management systems (ODBMS).

Derek Laufenberg, Versant Corp.
Patterns: Back-Pointer Managed Collection; Split Class Pattern.

Richard Lingeh, Principal Consultant, Versant
Pattern: Schema Builder.

Adrian Marriott , Principal Consultant, Progress Software Inc.
Patterns: Bespoke Indexes, Compress Persistent Data, Database Manager, Evolver, Frame, Head/Body, OO Anti-Pattern: Frame (Meta-Type System), Persistent Mutex, Persistent Queue, Persistent Singleton, Query Visitor, Small Object Pool Allocator, String Table, Transaction Memento.

Eugenia Stathopoulou, Panos Vassiliadis.
Patterns: Querying, Schema Modifications, Storage, Updates.

Takenori Sato
Pattern: Probabilistic Graph Model.

HOW TO VOTE?

Simple:

1) First please Read the patterns.
All persistent patterns submitted are available for free download.

2) Then Vote...
To vote visit the ODBMS.ORG Public Vote site.

Please note: You can vote only one time. You can choose only one pattern.

Public Voting takes place between June 1 and June 20, 2009.

Good readings ...and good vote!

RVZ

14 new Persistent Object-Oriented Patterns published!

2009-05-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

I have published several new resources in ODBMS.ORG.

One of our expert, Adrian Marriott, has written a paper with 14 Persistent Object-Oriented Patterns. The paper outlines a series of common OO patterns (13 patterns and 1 anti-pattern) that have been encountered in the past decade working with ObjectStore based systems on major projects across all industry sectors.

You can download the 14 Persistent Object-Oriented Patterns at the "Persistent Patterns" Section.

Another of our expert, Peter Baumann, has made available a free downlowd to an open-source array DBMS, he developed called Rasdaman, with an OQL-style query language and ODMG-conformant C++ and Java APIs for retrieving and manipulating multi-dimensional arrays (rasters) of unlimited size.

You can find the link to the free download of Rasdaman at the Object Databases - Free Software.

I have also added a few new resources in the Book Section:

Ina Brenner has made available several chapters (Chapters 2 to 10) for free download of the English translation of her book on "Database Development with db40".
Sample chapters for free download are now available for the following books: V. Mehta, Pro LINQ Object Relational Mapping in C#, Apress, August 2008 , and J. C. Rattz, Jr., Pro LINQ: Language Integrated Query in C# 2008 Apress, 2007.

Hope you`ll find these resources useful!

RVZ

International Conference on Object Databases (ICOODB)

2009-05-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

I`d like to inform you that the ICOODB 2009 registration has opened. The conference will take place on 1-3 July 2009 at ETH Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland.
"Registration can be done at the conference Web site.

ICOODB 2009 is the second in a series of international conferences aimed at promoting the exchange of information and ideas between members of the object database community.

A key feature of the conference is its goal to bring together developers, users and researchers. At the same time, the conference aims to meet the needs of the different sub-communities. The conference therefore consists of three different tracks offered as a tutorial day, an industry day and a research day.

Here are some highlights:

-One Day Tutorial Introduction to Object Databases by Rick Cattell together with leading technical experts from vendors: Robert Greene (Versant), Leon Guzenda (Objectivity), Adrian Marriott (Progress/ObjectStore) and Patrick Roemer (Versant/db4o).

- 3 Half-Day Tutorials on Couch DB (Jan Lehnardt), Converting EERM into ODMG's ODL Constructs (Joseph Vella), and Using C# for .Net with an ODBMS (Nic Caine and Leon Guzenda).

- Keynote: "How Far OODBMS's Have Come and a Look into their Future" by Jochen Witte and Robert Greene, Versant

- Industry Day with 14 presentations and a Panel "A New Renaissance for ODBMSs ?"

- Research Day including 9 research presentations

- Demo Session

- Awards for the best persistent patterns on July 2.

New Section to ODBMS.ORG: Persistent Patterns

2009-05-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

I have added a new Section to ODBMS.ORG called "Persistent Patterns". It lists Common Persistent Model Patterns.

You can already download the first Patterns at the "Persistent Patterns" Section

Hope you`ll find the patterns interesting and useful!

If you wish to take part to the Awards for the best Persistent Patterns, the deadline for sending your submissions is May 29, 2009.
After that there will be a Public Voting between May 30- June 20, 2009.
The Awards for the patterns which receive the highest votes will be announced on June 25, 2009, and the Awards ceremony will take place at Icoodb2009 in Zurich, on July 2, 2009.

RVZ

Call for Submissions /deadline May 29, 2009: Common Persistent Model Patterns

2009-04-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

We invite both vendors and Application architects, Enterprise architects, Developers who use databases to submit implementation techniques (database design patterns) which are generally useful for all adopters.

The best submissions will be published in a new series of reports in ODBMS.ORG. All submissions will be published under free software licenses.

Moreover, ODBMS.ORG will give an Award for the most valuable pattern as voted by the ODBMS.ORG community.

Submission modalities:
Submissions should be sent as reports in .pdf only.

Submissions will be considered only if indicating the name of the auhor(s) (or team), affiliation, complete address, and e-mail.
If the submission includes some actual software, you should *before* contact me to verify the modality of the submission.

Please send your submission by e-mail to: editor at odbms dot org

Deadline for submissions: ----> May 29, 2009

SUN and Oracle

2009-04-21T04:59:00.000-07:00

As you have heard, Sun Microsystems and Oracle Corporation announced on April 20, 2009 they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun's cash and debt.

What impact will this acquisition have on the database market? What will happen to MySQL?

I asked these questions to some of our experts.

Here is what Leon Guzenda , CTO Objectivity have to say on this:

Q1.What impact will this acquisition have on the database market?
Leon Guzenda: "I found this very interesting. There are multiple facets to the acquisition. In many ways this is just another consolidation of traditional database technologies. MySQL is hugely popular in the web site market but wasn't generating enough revenue to put a serious dent in Oracle's, IBM's and Microsoft's domination of the medium and high end market. It will increase Oracle's competitiveness, particularly against SQL Server. EnterpriseDB, based on the open source PostgreSQL engine, has been aggressively pursuing Oracle customers with a product that is a cheaper, plug compatible alternative to Oracle. I thing that Oracle will now be able to remove EnterpriseDB's price advantage with a similar offering based on MySQL."

Q.2 What will happen to MySQL?
Leon Guzenda:"I'm sure that Oracle will not want to lose the huge base of loyal MySQL users, many of whom aren't database experts but merely use it in support of other web tools, such as Moodle, Movable Type and WordPress, or shopping carts. I think they'll maintain the open source community, in the same way that Sun supported OpenOffice and then MySQL. I also think that they'll build better integration with their core database product to provide a smooth migration path as sites grow. They might inhibit some of the scalability of MySQL to encourage this, but it will be hard if there are open source alternatives.

Larry Ellison has placed a lot of emphasis on being able to provide complete solutions. He has now added the server, networking, storage, virtualization, cloud computing and open source DBMS components to his current Linux and application solutions. That puts Oracle in an even stronger position than before, particularly against Microsoft, but also against IBM, which was the only one-stop provider before. I suspect that he may sell the server, desktop and microelectronics business, perhaps to Fujitsu, but if he can overcome user resistance to being locked in to a single supplier, IBM will have a new kind of competitor to worry about."

Rick Cattell , who used to work for several years at SUN, comments:

Q1. What impact will this acquisition have on the database market?
Rick Cattell: "Good question! I believe the impact will depend on how Oracle handles the acquisition, and how the other players react. MySQL users may be nervous that Oracle won't be motivated to market against its flagship product with an open source product. Hardware vendors like Dell, HP, and IBM may be nervous that Oracle will be less motivated in their porting and tuning for other platforms. Open source contributors who were nervous that one vendor (MySQL) controlled what went into new
releases may now be more nervous with Oracle in control... more of their effort may go to PostgreSQL, JavaDB, and other alternatives. My guess is that short-term people will play wait-and-see."

Q.2 What will happen to MySQL?
Rick Cattell:" The answer to this question will determine the answer to the previous one. I will point out that Oracle did not kill InnoDB or SleepyCat's BerkeleyDB when they acquired these open source products. Oracle could use MySQL as a way to get market share at the low end that they can steer to Oracle at the high end. I believe that Oracle has been outstandingly smart in their acquisitions over the past 5 years: they are expanding their control and their revenue in every layer of the stack. With the Sun acquisition, they now have everything from the CPU up through applications. In many ways their story is now looking better than IBM's."

Robert Greene , V.P. Open Source Operations at Versant Corporation, adds:

Q1.What impact will this acquisition have on the database market?
Robert Greene: "I think this will have a relatively immaterial impact on the database market. I think the acquisition made a lot of sense for Oracle and frankly I was surprised about the IBM announcement ( which did not materialize ) as I was thinking it should have been Oracle's move. Software is under constant pressure of commoditization and the future resides in a competitive hardware and software stack where margins although tight, cannot be undermined. In many ways we are seeing the final consolidation of a market to the traditional 3 big players. IBM, HP and now Oracle with complete hardware, software and professional service stacks. I hear a lot of concern about the impact of this acquisition to Java, more so than to databases. I think whether in Oracle or IBM's hands, Java is safe to remain as the primary software platform competition to the Microsoft .NET stack. Java is in safe haven with Oracle. "

Q.2 What will happen to MySQL?:
Robert Greene:" It's anybody's guess, but I think the most reasonable expectation for the impact to MySQL would be to look at the impact to BerkeleyDB after it's acquisition by Oracle. Is the adoption of BerkeleyDB up or down? Is the support and community of BerkeleyDB up or down? Is the price of BerkeleyDB up or down? If one looks at the answers to those questions, it is likely you will find the future of MySQL. Perhaps it would be good to hear from the BerkeleyDB community in order to get the best first hand reaction. I do know the Java version of BerkeleyDB costs $5,800 per CPU, which is significantly more than it's cost in the days prior to Oracle. That observation alone tells me that traditional database technology just got more expensive. Of course, BerkeleyDB did not represent a direct assault on Oracle database revenues as has MySQL in the past. As an ODB guy, I can only see this news as a positive for the uptick of alternative database solutions. "

Do we really need a standard for Object Databases?

2009-04-17T08:15:00.000-07:00

If you recall, in February 2006, the Object Management Group (OMG) has decided to develop the "4th generation" standard for object databases in order to facilitate broader adoption of standards-based object database technology.

To this end, the OMG had set up the Object Database Technology Working Group (ODBT WG) and acquired the rights to develop new OMG specifications based on the works of the disbanded Object Data Management Group (ODMG), which issued the last ODMG 3.0 standard in 2001.

However, no significant progresss has been made until now...

This despite some interesting discussion who took place in 2008.

This is the result on a first analysis, of a luck of active participation from vendor companies.

So the question to address at this point is: Do we really need a standard for Object Databases?

ODBMS and RDBMS?

2009-04-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

I have recently asked Alexander Jaehne -Application Infrastructure & Integration Team Lead, at a major Swiss bank, what experience does he have in using the various options available for persistence for new projects.

"For very large databases, you need to complement an ODBMS with some relational database. We prefer to have both.. " replied Jaehne.

You can read the interview with Jaehne: User Report 31/09 .

Of course, this is not true in general.

For example, Richard Ahrens, Director at Merrill Lynch explains : "Our order and quote management system combines an embedded object-based continuous event processor with an embedded object database. This allows us to rapidly add new derivative products to our environment and keeps developers focused on writing code that adds direct business value. With our design, we have strived to eliminate "nonproductive" development: keeping objects in sync with a relational data model adds no value to our business, so we rely on object database technology to make that problem go away.
We have found this approach not only enables us to deliver incremental functionality faster, but also reduces our testing burden since there are fewer moving parts for us to maintain ourselves. "

The complete set of User Reports includes:

User Report 1/08: Gerd Klevesaat at Siemens
Segment: Industry - Automation
User: Gerd Klevesaat - Software architect - Siemens, Germany

User Report 2/08: Pieter van Zyl at CSIR
Segment: Academia
User: Pieter van Zyl - Researcher - CSIR, South Africa

User Report 3/08: Philippe Roose at Liuppa
Segment: Academia
User: Philippe Roose - Ass. Professor / Researcher - LIUPPA, France

User Report 4/08: William Westlake at SAIC
Segment: Industry - Medical
User: William Westlake - Principal Systems Engineer - SAIC, USA

User Report 5/08: Stefan Edlich at TFH Berlin
Segment: Academia
User: Stefan Edlich - Professor - TFH Berlin, Germany

User Report 6/08: Udayan Banerjee at NIIT
Segment: Industry - Various
User: Udayan Banerjee - CTO - NIIT, India

User Report 7/08: Nishio Shuichi at ATR
Segment: Industry - Robotics
User: Nishio Shuichi - Senior Researcher - ATR Labs, Japan

User Report 8/08: John Davies at Iona
Segment: Industry - Finance
User: John Davies - Technical Director - Iona, USA

User Report 9/08: Scott Ambler at IBM
Segment: Industry - Various
User: Scott Ambler - Practice Leader - IBM Rational, Canada

User Report 10/08: Mike Card at Syracuse
Segment: Industry - Defense
User: Mike Card - Researcher - Syracuse, USA

User Report 11/08: Rich Ahrens at Merrill Lynch
Segment: Industry - Finance
User: Richard Ahrens - Director - Merrill Lynch, USA

User Report 12/08: Ajay Deshpande at Persistent
Segment: Industry - Various
User: Ajay Deshpande - Senior Architect - Persistent, India

User Report 13/08: Horst Braeuner at City of Schwaebisch Hall
Segment: Public - Government
User: Horst Braeuner - CTO, CIO - City of Schwaebisch Hall, Germany

User Report 14/08: Tore Risch at University of Uppsala
Segment: Academia
User: Tore Risch - Professor - University of Uppsala, Sweden

User Report 15/08: Michael Blaha at OMT
Segment: Industry - Consulting
User: Michael Blaha - Principal - OMT Associates, USA

User Report 16/08: Stefan Keller at HSR Rapperswil
Segment: Academia
User: Stefan Keller - Professor - HSR Rapperswil, USA

User Report 17/08: Mohammed Zaki at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Segment: Academia
User: Mohammed Zaki - Associate Professor - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA

User Report 18/08: Peter Train at Standard Bank
Segment: Industry - Finance
User: Peter Train - Architect - Standard Bank, South Africa

User Report 19/08: Biren Gandhi at IBM
Segment: Industry - Consulting
User: Biren Gandhi - Architect - IBM, Germany

User Report 20/08: Sven Pecher at IBM
Segment: Industry - Consulting
User: Sven Pecher - Senior Consultant - IBM, Germany

User Report 21/08: Frank Stuch at IBM
Segment: Industry - Consulting
User: Sven Pecher - Managing Consultant - IBM, Germany

User Report 22/08: Hiroshi Miyazaki at Fujitsu
Segment: Industry - Various
User: Hiroshi Miyazaki - Methodology - Fujitsu, Japan

User Report 23/08: Robert Huber at 7r
Segment: Industry - Various
User: Robert Huber - Managing Director - 7r, Switzerland

User Report 24/08: Thomas Amberg at Oberon
Segment: Industry - Various
User: Thomas Amberg - Software Engineer, Oberon, Switzerland

User Report 25/08: Martin F. Kraft
Segment: Industry - Logistics
User: Martin F. Kraft - Application Architect, Shipping Company (not disclosed), USA

User Report 26/08: Serena Pizzi at Banca Fideuram
Segment: Industry - Finance
User: Serena Pizzi - Responsible Application Management Back End, Banca Fideuram SpA, Italy

User Report 27/08: Dan Schutzer at FSTC
Segment: Industry - Financial Services
User: Dan Schutzer - Director, FSTC, USA

User Report 28/08: Peter Fallon at Castle Software Australia
Segment: Industry - Software development and consulting
User: Peter Fallon - Director , Castle Software Australia, Australia

User Report 29/08: Benny Schaich-Lebek at SAP
Segment: Industry - ERP
User: Benny Schaich-Lebek - Product Management, SAP, Germany

User Report 30/08: Stephan Kiemle at German Aerospace Center
Segment: Industry - Aereospace
User: Stephan Kiemle - Chief software engineer, German Aerospace Center DLR, Germany

User Report 31/09: Alexander Jaehne at Major Swiss Bank
Segment: Industry - Finance
User: Alexander Jaehne -Application Infrastructure & Integration Team Lead, Switzerland.

ODBMS.ORG in Japanese

2009-03-24T06:31:00.000-07:00

With the help of my colleague Hiroki Kamata, from otij, we did a localization of the ODBMS.ORG portal that carries all the basic information with the latest news in Japanese.

ODBMS.ORG in Japanese