Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!cmcl2!ccnysci!alexis
From: alexis@ccnysci.UUCP (Alexis Rosen)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Switch to FoxBase?
Message-ID: <1699@ccnysci.UUCP>
Date: 23 Apr 89 09:02:48 GMT
References: <22863@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <1586@ccnysci.UUCP> <3908@sybase.sybase.com>
Reply-To: alexis@ccnysci.UUCP (Alexis Rosen)
Organization: City College of New York
Lines: 40

In article <3908@sybase.sybase.com> tim@phobos.UUCP (Tim Wood) writes:
>In article <1586@ccnysci.UUCP> alexis@ccnysci.UUCP (Alexis Rosen) writes:
>>A note about performance: for files that Foxbase opens read/write in shared
>>(not EXCLUSIVE) mode, expect a 50% slowdown. Obviously, it can't cache
>>indices. (This effect will be seen with any good program, not just FB+).
>
>Gee, this doesn't sound like the effect of a good program, it sounds 
>like the effect of a limitation.  Why is it not possible to cache
>indices?  Because of FoxBase design?  Or characteristics of the networked
>Mac environment?  

The implication was that any Mac program will do the same, and if it has
decent caching you will see a similar slowdown. But this is sort of a
red herring, see below...

>I don't dispute the factual content re FoxBase & TOPS, I just have a
>problem with generalizing the limitations of this program and/or
>environment to all (DBMS) software.  FoxBase itself may have many fine
>features.  But comp.databases readers should not be misled into thinking 
>that other (Mac-compatible) packages must have this limitation.  I feel
>that Alexis' enthusiastic endorsement of FoxBase is leading him to 
>make erroneous statements about other DBMS software in general.

Tim is right. I didn't even notice that this stuff was winding up in
comp.databases. It is certainly possible to have a DBMS cache indices in
a multi-user environment. I was specifically addressing Macintoshes, and
the programs that are currently available on the Mac. (Which is why my
previous point was sort of silly- there are no other Mac databases with
"decent" enough performance for you to see a performance hit in M-U mode.)
Regardless, Fox is still the fastest thing out there, even in M-U mode.

Now, if Sybase were to have a Mac product that really did things right,
I'd be delighted (I am not asking for an A/UX character-based implementation
of Sybase, BTW :-).  I don't really expect that to happen, though, at least
until System 7.0 is released, maybe later...

---
Alexis Rosen
alexis@ccnysci.{uucp,bitnet}
alexis@rascal.ics.utexas.edu  (last resort)