Re: Time series database misinformation from Achmal B Chaudhrii

Colin James III (cjames3@ix.netcom.com) belched: : Illustra is an Informix "company", but Achmal is way off the mark with : the DataBlade stuff and time series. No he wasn't. : DataBlade modules are meant to be simpler defined-functions functions : for data types concocted by the user which return values. >Parse Error: subjunctive clause out of range, word repeat, multiple active verbs >Sytnax Error: Types may not 'return' values. A Datablade is a marketing term for a set of extensions. The key distinction between extensible database systems and more conventional systems is this extensibility. In Postgres (and now Illustra) it's possible to add new access methods, new data types, functions, storage manager sub-systems etc. Further, Postgres (and Illustra) come with 'time-travel' features built in to the default storage manager, but this doesn't constitute a 'blade'. The Illustra 'time-series' datablade may be thought of as an extension to the storage manager. In a conventional relational database architecture, tuples are allocated onto pages. The only way to get to tuple 'X' is through these page management structures. The Time-Series stuff stores the data as a continuous file, which allows for very fast access to parts of the data which can be specified by time. The time-travel features are cool, but really only a part of what extensible technology is all about. They're also quite limited: logging becomes especially difficult. They're a specialist extension to solve a specialist problem. The key thing is that extensible systems (UniSQL, Starburst, DB2/6000) 'understand' the variety of data they are required to manage, and can optimize and execute queries expressed over many different kinds of data. : So what. >Parse Eror: Interrogative: Requires '?' $430 million worth of so what. How many people are queing up to license BSAM(tm)(c)(patent)? : Time series are a whole different species. >Parse Eror: Singular subject, plural verb. And just what do *you* mean by time series, which is so opaque to everyone else? [ Dig at Akmal deleted. Not worthy of a reply ] ===================================================================== Paul Brown ^..^ pbrown@postgres.Berkeley.EDU (oo) - Oink! #include <std_disclaimer.h> "Think global - act loco!" - Zippy the Pinhead =====================================================================