Re: relational databases vs. not-so relational databases

Beautifully put Jan !

Thanks for the insight guys. I realize that Notes has nothing to do with RDBs, however, (as much as I disagree), our IBM reps, sales, etc. believe that Notes can be as, if not more, powerful as an RDBMS (I nearly wet myself with laughter whenever I hear that)

I do not see the correlation to the white paper? If to imply that notes uses a 'nested relational database', I would have to disagree. I have only studied and worked with RDBM's opposed to some minor work with Notes, to believe that it does not fit either model. Notes may relate to one or two conventions, however, the db layer is transparent to the developer. I've yet to find an app/code or non-marketing/sales documentation that depicts a notes db in its raw form (aside form cheese analyzer scripts that state the obvious and IBM glorious praises...they could make notepad sound like an RDBMS). From what I have seen, Notes wouldn't even make first normal form unless hours were spent planning for every possible circumstance. Not to say that rdb's do not require a good, well thought design to implement successfully, more that re-structuring can be accomplished with relatively ease (if the schema is well thought). Notes does not accomplish this task easily, making future enhancements to the db (no...users never what changes?!) quite complicated to implement (or be left with tones of useless data requiring lengthly+time consuming scripts to update). A good RDB can be upgraded with minimal hassle (_at_ worse, time consuming sql) to accommodate such requirements (unless you really f'd up the original design).

none-the-less,.....thanks for the opinions. - j

Jeff Dugan wrote:

> Hey everyone !
>
> I've been struggling with my co-workers, big Lotus Notes enthusiasts,
> who believe that Notes is just as good if not better than any RDBMS
> (obviously IBM's sales/marketing people got to them first).
>
> I have done some development with Notes and it is possible to develop a
> relational database (kind of) with Notes, however, it lacks sql. You
> can use LotusScript and/or Agents to handle database
> maintenance/functions, but it is very tedious.
>
> Personally believe that a relational database (if designed/implemented
> correctly) are more powerful and manageable than any notes database ever
> could be. I also believe that while Notes is a RAD tool, development is
> fairly easy, yet frustrating to associate RDBMS theory to it.
>
> Does anyone have any insight into matter?
>
> Thanks
>
> - j
Received on Fri Jan 25 2002 - 02:59:47 CET