WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?

  A code generator for optimized database records.


DESCRIPTION:

The achievement of top database efficiency demands the use of C++ to
optimize space requirements and access times of perl data.
Unfortunately, once we step down from perl to C++ things get a lot
more complicated (or at least messy).

Suddenly, each database brings with it the baggage of an application
specific schema and the corresponding C++ support code.  Even worse,
as the schema evolves, old schemas and code from prior versions must
continue to be supported or old data will become much less convenient
to access.  Another alternative, schema evolution, is an enormous
amount of trouble and should be possible to avoid or at least easy to
postpone.  The new dump and load facility introduced with OS 5.1 is a
help but it doesn't squarely address the same problem.

We need to balance two opposing desires:

1. Optimize data using customized C++ objects.

2. Try to minimize the bulk of schema and object code needed for
ongoing backward compatibility.


IMPLEMENTATION:

Just like a relational database.  Records are encoded by field offset
and type, with all the data manipulations being generic.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 1998-1999 Joshua Nathaniel Pritikin.  All rights reserved.

This package is free software and is provided "as is" without express
or implied warranty.  It may be used, redistributed and/or modified
under the terms of the Perl Artistic License (see
http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html)
