Re: What is a relational database?

nospam-mvcs_at_idt.net (MVCS) wrote:

>"Chinna" <jchinna_at_enron.com> wrote:
>
>>A relational database comprises of tables, some of which are
>>related by common columns. ....
>
>I see. I've heard that MS Access is OK, but Oracle is much better. For
>PC apps (VB on Win95/NT) do you have a preference? Are there any
>relational database programs which port from PC to unix? My program
>apps (neual nets) access legacy databases on PC and unix. I have a
>crude ascii version of the program that accesses flat files on PC and
>unix. These are very portable but large and slow to work with. I need
>to upgrade. My app is made to plug into a database. Is there one you
>know about which crosses PC-Win, NT, RISC, SiliGraph, Apollo, Sun, HP,
>VAX, and mainframe OS systems?

Informix and Sybase both have decent databases for Unix, and ODBC drivers that allow you to connect from a Windows platform directly to the database. DB2-2 also allows you to do this (running from OS-2, etc). As a matter of fact, most of the more common, non-microsoft-based databases have ODBC packages to allow connection from your PC network.
  As to connecting to VAX or other mainframe databases, it would depend upon the database. There are those that have ODBC drivers available, you would have to check on a case-by-case basis.   A caviat to any of the above-mentioned platforms -- none are cheap, cost wise. The typical user can't afford to buy one (like Sybase or Informix, etc.). While a direct connection to someone else's database is the most expediant solution, it isn't always cost-effective or necessary. If the data transfer can be done batch (nightly process), then it may be more cost effective to keep the PC to PC-based db's, and just have a good import/export utility handle the data loading. Received on Tue Sep 16 1997 - 00:00:00 CEST