From: K.S. B. <k.b...@sa...> - 2000-11-20 23:10:38
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On Sunday, November 19, 2000 at 15:55:00 (GMT+0100), Emiliano wrote: <...snip...> > > You can use CVS (or any other tool) for source code control. You can create > > a UI with Java, and hook it up to a GT.M database application. > > How do these external interfaces interact with GT.M? The socket > interface? [KSB] GT.M source & object code files are just ASCII files in the file system of the native OS. Therefore, you can use your favorite flavor of emacs to edit source code, CVS for version control, etc. Other MUMPSen store the programs in the database. You would use the socket interface to connect Java to the database, or take the database runtime library and link it with the JVM to create a tight binding. The latter is something we are considering doing. > > Oh, yes, there is just one datatype. It's a BLOB. What meaning to give to > > your BLOB is entirely yours. > > Just what I've been looking for. *pinks away a soletary tear* And just > in time, too. We've been searching high and low for a tool like this, > having found that relational is simply a bad match for our needs. We > were about to embark on writing our own database. [KSB] There are many databases available, many in source code too, and many that can handle non-relational data. While writing a database engine can be very enjoyable (now that I am a manager, I can reflect on how therapeutic it was when I wrote code), and is actually very easy to do, it is hard to write a database from scratch that has a lot of robustness out of the box. The code that actually runs repeatedly in GT.M is a small part of the total code base. Much of the code is intended to ensure that big things don't go wrong when little things go wrong. Systems for the real world need to be able to operate robustly or shut down gracefully even in the presence of failure. Cases when one thing goes wrong and causes catastrophic events -- like a metal strip on a runway when a Concorde is taking off -- are rare events in a well engineered system. |