Re: theoretical question on the RDBMS

GoranG <no_at_spam.net> wrote:

> >> Without being too rude, would you care to describe what MS-Access is, if it
> >> is not an RDBMS (or at least a version of a SQL-DBMS)

> ><polite mode>
> > Access is a flat file database.

> ? </polite mode> Do you mean when you open it in notepad? <polite
> mode> Please explain since I really don't get this.

The poster who asked the question said "Without being too rude" - the opposite of rude is polite, hence I stuck that in.  

> >You could call it an SQL DBMS but it
> > does not support transactions

> ? </polite mode> Just out of curiosity, what version are you talking
> about? <polite mode>

The last version I used - can't remember!  

> >, and is flakey under multi-user conditions
> > (that's true for every DB, but with Access it starts with n very low)

> Very true. One must be very careful with Access even at 20-ish
> concurrent users and there were serious bugs in DB engine 3.x and 4.x
> for almost whole year after releasing.
> Also Access procedural language (VBA) is built as a modification of VB
> so more bugs were introduced. To top that object model is not very
> neet. Also it is failing SQL syntax standard compliance at basic level
> (different wildcard chars and a like).

In the sense that no db properly meets the SQL standards, that isn't a major issue - the wild card thing is not that important either.  

> Still, I would call it RDBMS (but certainly not a good, reliable and
> scalable RDBMS).

Mixing data and programme code in the same file is not one of the properties of an RDBMS that springs to mind when specifying one.  

> >, it won't run on Unix (true for MS SQL also, which is an RDBMS).

> > Overall, it lacks features that a true RDBMS needs - however, you
> > do get lots of other stuff thrown in (GUI designer, ease of use)
> ></polite mode>
 

> What's your checklist for R in RDBMS compliance?

Relational?

> Not that I am a fan of Access nor MySQL, but I don't like when people
> claim these don't support transactions, ref. integrity or similar just
> like that...

Well, MySQL will support them with a special file type. I wasn't aware that Access ever supported them? I don't mind being corrected if I'm wrong!

Paul...  

> ( GoranG79 AT hotmail.com )

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