Re: RDMBS and Java - a "clash of civilizations" ?

"Jan Gelbrich" <j_gelbrich_at_westfalen-blatt.de> wrote in message news:<bjncgr$l9gnh$1_at_ID-152732.news.uni-berlin.de>...

> and whenever it comes to Java, I feel that there is a huge abyss
> between the Java folks and "us" - the Database folks;
> and each side is quite successful in pissing off the other ...
> in most cases because of ignorance of the other side.

Sorry, do not agree. My experience has been that competent Java people usually understand the issues and can relate very easily to anyone else. What I've found is that probably due to the dotcom bubble, Java has attracted a busload of "agressive yuppies" who haven't got a clue but think if they yell louder, everyone will listen. This group has done more to give Java a bad name than anyone else possibly could.

> I would like to know generally if there *are* reasons to use Java
> inside and/or around the RDBMS,
> *besides* becoming portable,
> and without having to abandon performance issues.

Inside, for the life of me I can't see why. In a RDBMS that doesn't have a native procedural language, maybe. But with Oracle? Apart from the odd very specific and vertical problem like what Brian referred to, I can't for a minute figure out why I'd use Java over PL/SQL. It just doesn't make sense.

Outside? Well, if you have access to something like Forms and Reports, I can't understand why you'd look anywhere else: these are just as "portable" as Java. If *total* portability is important, then yes: Java is *one* solution. There are others.

> I would like to hear of some other opinions here (DBAs and Developers),
> how much of You do use Java, do You use it heavily or just for some things
> that PL/SQL cannot do. Tom Kyte gives advice to use it only when PL/SQL
> runs out.

As usual, Tom is right on the money. We use Java heavily in the current environment, but that's because it is mixed J2EE and Oracle. And of course with J2EE, you better use Java! But for many other situations, I'd much rather use Forms+Reports than J2EE. I'm about to start in another project where that will be the case. Can't wait, have had a gutfull of Java for the last 3 years!

Cheers
Nuno Souto
wizofoz2k_at_yahoo.com.au.nospam Received on Wed Sep 10 2003 - 16:29:54 CDT