NickC wrote: > Bill Arnold wrote: >> "what is the best general purpose database product for future > investment?" > > OK lets phrase the question that way then, does that help?
Future investment in a general purpose database product, in my mind, has a few important requirements: a) Knowing the product will be around (the vendor won't/can't kill it off). b) Knowing the product will be improved over time, or at least that it can be improved over time by willing third-parties. c) The product can produce apps that run cross-platform, and cross-architecture (web-based, desktop (gui) based, server (cli) based, windows, macintosh, unix, handheld). d) The language is easy to learn, yet powerful enough to do serious heavy-lifting. e) The database is scalable from small single-user in-memory to enterprise-level. f) There is enough mindshare in the technologies involved, and that if anything this mindshare and the maturity of the product is increasing, not declining. Let's now test some popular environments to see if they fit in with the above requirements. VFP: Fails a, b, c, and f, sorry to say. .NET: fails a, c, and e. Java: satisfies all requirements. Although, I have to say it is nowhere near as lightweight, dynamic, or fun to use as I'd like. Indeed, it fails C and C++: I'd say these languages fail d and f. Perl and PHP: These are really meant for specific cases, not general ones. Perl, for instance, rocks for string processing, and PHP rocks simple web templating. So I'd say both fail c. Python: Satisfies all requirements, and it is easy to learn, fun to use, and you become a better programmer by developing applications with it. Mindshare is growing, and there are a zillion libraries already written to get you to the last mile of whatever you are doing. Now, those requirements were only off the top of my head, and show my bias (come up with requirements that Python would satisfy). So... what are some other requirements for this class of product? -- Paul _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
