Below is what I had sent to the original question off forum (replied direct). The description of VFP was not a sales pitch. It was in response to obsolete.
=============================== I program in Foxpro/VFP and have since 1989. The reason I do that is not because of the tables but because of the language and runtime enviroment that is available to me. In my opinion... 2000 - 3000 records is not a decision point for most DB table types. Too small they will all handle very well. As far as I know in all three you will have to deal with ODBC so that does not make a difference. One of the advantages of the Fox enviroment (not Python -> Fox) is the table can be native or not. Meaning in VFP I can pull data from VFP tables as well as Access and MySQL all at the same time but the VFP table is native. Easy distribution. I know this is not part of the answer you are looking for but if you used VFP table and for some reason you needed more horse power you have a cleaner option moving into VFP as far as the data is concerned. Most people are surprised to see the volume of data VFP is handling out there in the business world once they find out. MySQL - You have to install MySQL somewhere. Seems a little much for 3000 records especially if you are running MySql on a separate box. Access - Everything is stored in the MDB. If it corrupts well you risk loosing everything you stored in the .MDB file. I have always just hated Access but that is me. Too many reasons to discuss here. In my opinion VFP has the strongest most organized community mainly due to http://www.universalthread.com. I suspect you could even get support there with Python -> VFP tables. I see that discussed there often. I think your choice comes down to what are you interested in learning and living with or maybe what looks best on your resume with your specific career path. ============================= -----Original Message----- From: Ganz, Will [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 11:18 AM To: 'Ron Darling'; Sathish Chandrasekaran (S); [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: What database should I use I grant that FoxPro is still a formidable competitor in the marketplace but given the size that the original poster stated of 2K-3k records; the 2gig Access limitation shouldn't come into play. In this instance, Visual FoxPro would be like using a supersonic fighter jet as a crop duster. 8-) -----Original Message----- From: Ron Darling [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 10:30 AM To: Sathish Chandrasekaran (S); [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: What database should I use >> (though it's it considered obsolete now-a-days). This is only a consideration for the uni-formed or those that have never really used it. MS is still dumping lots of money into it. Just shipped v7.0 will be going into Beta with 8.0 in a couple of months. Amazing String capabilties. As a matter of fact there is now a VFP style .net class that moves a lot of the wonderful commands internal to VFP to .NET. I think the Fox Dev team created. Cursor Technology, Rushmore Speed and many other things have moved there way into not only Access but SQL Server and ADO. Due to the fact that each part of a table is its own file. .DBF is the table. .FPT is the Memo field .CDX is the index. The file size limitation of the OS of 2 gig is at the individual file level. In Access everything is stored in the same file (you could break up but not really meant to) so the 2 gig file size is limited to the app and data which is more than likely in the same file. I have dealt with lots of situations where the .DBF was 1.8 gig, the index was 1.2 gig and the FPT was another 1+ gig size. Indexes are stored in a .CDX file. A .CDX file can have as many as 255 indexes (take into account 2 gig file size). Each open table can have 10 open CDX's so you can have 2550 indexes on a table. Very Robust SQL pass Through for back end databases. There is nothing out there as fast as VFP for pure raw speed. SQL 2000 gets close but not quite there, the advantage to SQL as far speed goes is it does not bog down under load. Load means 25 + heavy users. As far as speed goes I have seen the return of queries on tables as large as 21 million records within seconds and that was pulling data across a 10 meg network with Foxpro For DOS. United We Stand (remember Ross Perot) member/prospect database. Sounds a little dated but the point is its been that way in Fox for a long time. Fox and VFP managed/tracked the military assets to the Persian Gulf and is till in use. Manages the flow of info for Chunnel. It is far more prevalent than most realize. Very good OOP. It seems that VFP is becoming known for the best language that can really implement the "Abstract Factory Pattern" Very good interface. Rich Native Controls (No OCX) and does very well with OCX's. Easy Distribution. (Drop a couple of DLLS into system directory not reg) Rich Debugger. Can access any data ODBC, ADO or ADO.Net can access. Internal XML. Select Result set from SQL into a local cursor then use CURSORTOXML(). With the XMLTOCCURSOR() and CURSORTOXML() commands it is very easy to build thin wire apps. Bind the interface to the cursor. I can try any and all commands from the command prompt and even from within a debugging suspend. Pretty much interrogate the entire system at hand very easily from a suspend. Many options for hanging VFP behind IIS and ISAPI. You can create com objects and run behind other languages even from within SQL Server or visa versa. One of the most robust SOUNDEX/Fuzzy Search add-ons available with the PHDbase Library. You can index memo fields and do 2 - 3 second searches on huge amounts of memo data. Best Table Repair Libraries that I am aware of are available. Error trapping has been far superior to VB and a lot of languages since the Fox 2.0 days (1992). Last but not least http://www.universalthread.com. Great support from all over the world. obsolete...hmmmmm maybe lack of exposure or conflicting marketing problems with MS owning Access, SQL and Fox but certainly not obsolete. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Sathish Chandrasekaran (S) Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 9:24 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: What database should I use In that case MS-access will be better on the size issue. But on the other hand if u want ur application to be flexible and ease of use I would rather suggest FoxPro (though it's it considered obsolete now-a-days). Here Is A Test To Know Whether The Mission Of Your Life Is Over . If You Are Alive It Isn't . Sathish C Infra-Amdocs -----Original Message----- From: A [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 05 September 2002 15:21 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: What database should I use Hello, I am going to program a small application (in Python and wxPython) which consists about 2000 - 3000 records . Can you please recommend which database is the best for that. I use Windows. Maybe MS Access or FoxPro or MySQL or better? I want to keep the program as small as possible. Thanks Ladislav _______________________________________________ ActivePython mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/mysubs Other options: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/listinfo/ActivePython _______________________________________________ ActivePython mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/mysubs Other options: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/listinfo/ActivePython _______________________________________________ ActivePython mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/mysubs Other options: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/listinfo/ActivePython _______________________________________________ ActivePython mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/mysubs Other options: http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/listinfo/ActivePython
