db4objects Update

db4objects, the commercial company supporting the db4o open source database, recently announced new extensions to the core object database. While VDC does not typically cover new product announcements, there are a couple of interesting points emerging here. db4obejcts is to db4o as Sleepycat is to BerkeleyDB - a company that provides a commercial-grade version of an open source database. What makes db4o somewhat unique is that it is an object database originally targeting client/embedded devices. The original db4o database was well designed for its original purposes: small footprint, very fast, support for .NET and Java. However, as developers started working with the database in actual devices, they found that they needed additional features, including a query language. To meet this need:

Native Queries will provide db4o with a query language that leverages the native OO programming language (Java/C#/.Net) that the developer is already using. Native Queries, based on the Safe Queries work by Prof. William Cook, is 100% OO because they come straight from the OO language already being used. The concept is similar to Microsoft’s DLINQ concept that will be in .NET3 in 2007. However, Native Queries are targeted at OO databases not relational ones. VDC expects db4o will be 100% compatible to DLINQ, but will also provided native OO support through native queries.

William Cook and db4objects chief software architect Carl Rosenberger have written a joint white paper: www.db4o.com/about/productinformation/whitepapers/#nq