Advice on persistent storage in Java?

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john martin - 11 Dec 2004 03:13 GMT

I need some advice on persistent storage in Java. Basically, I'm writing
an application that I'd like to be in pure Java (including any backend
stuff it relies on, I'd like it to all run in the same VM). It has to
store a potentially large data structure. I'd like to have as little
hassle with SQL as possible, since I haven't done a ton of DB stuff,
though it seems that it may be necessary, and so I'm not totally averse
to using a regular SQL DB.

The two general options I'm considering are using an object oriented DB
(e.g., PERST, http://www.garret.ru/~knizhnik/perst.html), and a regular
SQL DB (e.g., hsqldb, http://hsqldb.sourceforge.net/).

Both PERST and hsqldb are pure Java, so that meets my first requirement
(basically, I don't want someone to have to install a seperate DB
product to run my app). I like the idea of using an OODB, but it's not
totally transparent, and I won't be doing the most complex SQL in the
world, so I'm not sure if it'll really save me any work. Has anyone had
experience with either of the above tools? Anyone have any general
advice for easily storing (possibly large) object oriented data
structures in a way that's rather efficient and fault tolerant (i.e.,
not a flat text or XML file) but not a complete pain in the a.s to
implement?

Any advice from people who've either done object oriented DB stuff or
who've had to bundle basic DB capability in a Java application would be
much appreciated.

-john

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Brett Foster - 11 Dec 2004 11:28 GMT

> I need some advice on persistent storage in Java. Basically, I'm writing
> an application that I'd like to be in pure Java (including any backend
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> who've had to bundle basic DB capability in a Java application would be
> much appreciated.

I recently finished part of a project in which SQL and XML were used for
large data-sets with many relations. Basically XML was used as a
transport and interface, and SQL was used for its ability to be queried.
With some clever foot work mixing XML in to the SQL layer and vice versa
was fairly straight forward.

Each had its pros and cons for the system. XML was good for transfering
and merging other databases and XML files. XML was also good because
other applications could interface using documented DTDs. SQL on the
other hand was better for larger data sets, multiple clients/servers
running concurrently, and had good performance characteristics.

In any event, I wouldn't discount XML or SQL or anything... One would be
well advised to design a "good" entity layer (aka the E in BCE) which
would support these things, EVEN if one only intend to implement one of
the options.

Brett

> -john

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john martin - 13 Dec 2004 07:30 GMT

>> I need some advice on persistent storage in Java. Basically, I'm
>> writing an application that I'd like to be in pure Java (including any
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
> other hand was better for larger data sets, multiple clients/servers
> running concurrently, and had good performance characteristics.

cool, thanks for the advice, i might consider some sort of export to
(and import from) XML functionality at some point, though i doubt i'll
use it as primary storage.

> In any event, I wouldn't discount XML or SQL or anything... One would be
> well advised to design a "good" entity layer (aka the E in BCE) which
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
>> -john

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Advice on persistent storage in Java?

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