This is very useful, thanks for posting! I created a page for this at the R Wiki: http://fawn.unibw-hamburg.de/cgi-bin/Rwiki.pl?DataBases
If any one has any info to add, go at it! -- Tony Plate charles loboz wrote: > 1. That was a part of a private email exchange. It has > been suggested that more people may be interested. > > 2. I did use various databases (significant part of my > job) for the last 15 years. Some with R for the last 3 > years as a hobby. Some comments on the ones used > below. Sorry, no links - I am time-constrained at the > moment - please google if interested in details. The > remarks are from the point of view of R user, not that > of 'general database user'. > > 3. SQLITE. www.sqlite.org - probably the best datase > to use with R. No setup, no administration, embedded - > so less connection overhead. All data in one file - so > easy to transfer. Solid. Very functional SQL, fast if > you play it right (almost as fast as SQLServer on > Windows...) . Some limitations - no stored procedures. > Some preprocessing/parsing can be done using TCL - > well integrated with sqlite if you need that. Due to > the implementation quirk you can even compute > recursive functions (like exponential moving average > or Fibonacci numbers) with SQL :-). Easy import/export > of data to text files. After trying few other dbs I > settled down on this one. Even considered writing a > tutorial on SQLite use with R (like how to process > gigabytes of data on a 128mb computer :-) ) - but time > constraints stopped me. [Personally I think that > SQLite should come bundled with the standard R > installation. Could even be used to keep a lot of R's > internal stuff, would probably simplify overall > coding. But that is for others to decide] > > All other databases (including mysql) require typical > setup - installation, administration, user rights, > keeping track of ports, services/daemons, directories, > backups etc - so some db administrative skills are > required.I am not sure how many R users are willing to > go through that. The ones who may be interested in the > stuff below > > 4. www.postgres.org Postgres. Free. As complete as one > can wish, small download, great functionality. > Interfaces well to other languages, so you can do > numerics in C++ and store that in the database (though > why not do numerics in R?). Current version 8.1, much > improved. > > 5. Firebird. open source verion of Interbase. Easy > setup and can have all data in one file. But... slow > development - not many developers there. SQL full but > somewhat quirky (when porting from other dialects). > > 6. Mysql. the inheritance from the original ISAM > system still shows. Nice user interface, but... if you > need real db why not use postgres? if you need > something simpler, without administration, why not use > SQLITE? No doubt mysql is fine for many simple > websites etc - this is mysql's niche. > > 7. derby and hsqldb. both are written in Java, open > source. HSQLDB (used now by OpenOffice) allows > creation of in-memory tables and it's fast there - but > it's usage from inside R is tricky - there is no > easily available, installable and current ODBC driver. > Similar for derby - the ODBC driver is there, but > installation can be tricky to non-professionals. May > be in the future... > > There are three 'express' versions of commercial > databases. They all share some restrictions, like max > disc data size 2-4gb, max mem size 1-2gb and usage of > single processor only. Plus various licensing > restrictions, so be careful how you use them. > > - Microsoft - in beta now, over 100mb download > (windows only) (the old version, MSDE, is also > available) > - Oracle - 150mb download, if i remember correctly > even free to distribute, but check the license > - DB2 - 500mb download, currently 90 day version, IBM > strong rumour is that early next year the new version > will be free. > > Each commercial DB has some OLAP capability, but I am > not sure how much of it is/will be available in the > Express version. > > > > __________________________________________ > > Just $16.99/mo. or less. > dsl.yahoo.com > > ______________________________________________ > [email protected] mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > ______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide! http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
