CData - the Cheap Data Base Management System
ma...@levels.sait.edu.au
Data Base Managment System. I have 2 3rd-year students writing their final
year project in this language.
I am interested in bugs, enhancements, methodologies and anything else relating
to its use.
Ray Kennington
(08) 343 3161
Al Kiecker
I am also interested in what enhancments, bugs, etc. have been made/fixed
to CData. I just today bought a copy of the book per recommendation of a friend.
My initial impression is that it looks like something that could form the basis
for a very sophisticated RDBMS at VERY low cost. If there is sufficient
interest perhaps we ought to start a mailing list. Any interest??
--
Al Kiecker UUCP: uunet!s5000!alan
UNISYS - Hardware Independent Software al...@s5000.sp.unisys.com
Roseville,MN AT&T: 612-635-2574
"Don't Worry, Be Happy"
Jonathan Bayer
>
> I am also interested in what enhancments, bugs, etc. have been made/fixed
> to CData. I just today bought a copy of the book per recommendation of a friend.
> My initial impression is that it looks like something that could form the basis
> for a very sophisticated RDBMS at VERY low cost. If there is sufficient
> interest perhaps we ought to start a mailing list. Any interest??
I am using it for a few simple databases here. I had to totally replace
the b-tree routines because they failed with large files, and I didn't have
the time to find the bug. I replaced them with a set of b-tree routines
I got from the net. The conversion took about 2 hours.
Yes, I am interested in a mailing list. Sign me up if it gets started.
JB
--
Jonathan Bayer Beware: The light at the end of the
Intelligent Software Products, Inc. tunnel may be an oncoming dragon
500 Oakwood Ave. ...uunet!ispi!root
Roselle Park, NJ 07204 (201) 245-5922 jba...@ispi.UUCP
ma...@levels.sait.edu.au
> to CData. I just today bought a copy of the book per recommendation of a friend.
> My initial impression is that it looks like something that could form the basis
> for a very sophisticated RDBMS at VERY low cost. If there is sufficient
> interest perhaps we ought to start a mailing list. Any interest??
>
I have modified the screen handling so that the filename of the file given
on the command line of qd (the query program) is used automatically in
screen.c to provide userdefined names of the fields and also arbitrary
locations of the fields - checks are on various aspects like overlapping
fields; I have used a modified schema to do this. This makes the screen
more professional looking.
I would like to be part of any discussions on CDATA and in particular have
my name added to any mailing list.
Ray
Eric Brown
> I am also interested in what enhancments, bugs, etc. have been made/fixed
> to CData. I just today bought a copy of the book per recommendation of a friend.
> My initial impression is that it looks like something that could form the basis
> for a very sophisticated RDBMS at VERY low cost. If there is sufficient
> interest perhaps we ought to start a mailing list. Any interest??
What exactly is CData? What is the book referred to here? Can one easily
obtain the software (via anon. ftp or suchlike)?
Sorry to ask so many questions, but I have a need for a cheap DBMS
package for a home project.
Eric Brown ...!{uunet,uw-beaver}!microsoft!ericbr
I don't speak for Microsoft, and they don't speak for me.
saify.lanewala
> > for a very sophisticated RDBMS at VERY low cost. If there is sufficient
> > interest perhaps we ought to start a mailing list. Any interest??
>
> What exactly is CData? What is the book referred to here? Can one easily
> obtain the software (via anon. ftp or suchlike)?
>
>
I'd like to be some sort of mailing list too, as well get info on CDATA.
Thanks.
Saify Lanewala
..attunix!stl
Billy G. Allie
<
< obtain the software (via anon. ftp or suchlike)?
<
< Sorry to ask so many questions, but I have a need for a cheap DBMS
< package for a home project.
<
< Eric Brown
"Cdata: The Cheap Data Base Management System" is a library of data base
management function developed in C. It consists of:
o A compiler for the Cdata Data Definition Language (schema.c).
o A Data Base Manager (database.c)
o A File Manager (datafile.c)
o An Index Manager (btree.c)
And comes with the following utility programs:
o The Data Base Size Calculator (dbsize.c)
o Data Base Initialization (dbinit.c)
o Data Entry and Query (qd.c)
o Data Base File Report Program (ds.c)
o Index Builder (index.c)
More information can be obtained by reading the book:
Title: "C Data Base Development"
Author: Al Stevens
Publisher: Management Information Source, Inc.
1107 N. W. 14th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97209
(503) 222-2399
(800) MANUALS {(800) 626-8257}
ISBN: 0-943518-33-4
The book can be ordered with or without a diskette containing machine
readable source code (MS-DOS format). The diskette can also be orded
seperately.
PS: I would also be interested in joining a mailing list that discusses
Cdata.
--
____ | Billy G. Allie | Internet..: b...@bgalli.eds.com
| /| | 7436 Hartwell | UUCP......: uunet!{mcf|edsews}!bgalli!bga
|-/-|----- | Dearborn, MI 48126 | Compuserve: 76337,2061
|/ |LLIE | (313) 582-1540 | Genie.....: BGALLIE
Mark Freedman
(Al Steven Books / Software .... Cheap Data Base ... etc.)
I bought Al Stevens' earlier book and disk "C Development Tools for the
IBM PC", and have also grabbed his screen-handling routines published in
Doctor Dobbs' Journal from Compuserve. To his credit, he did send two bug
fix postcards for the development tools (hmmm .... better support than some
expensive products), but I've never cared for the design or crash-prone
implementation of his libraries.
Is the "Cheap Data BAse" more robust than the DDJ routines (I can crash
data entry simply by inserting characters until the field overflows. of
course, an end-user would **NEVER** do such a thing :-)). I can't see
spending a lot of time debugging his code when commercial products are
available at such low prices.
Jonathan Bayer
CData's data entry is very simple. The database is a text-based system,
and all data is stored as chars. The data entry cannot be overflowed.
The only problem I have found with the system is that the b-tree
routines have some sort of bug which screws up the b-tree files. I
solved it by replacing the offending routines.
The nice thing about CData is that you can create a schema, and have it
translated into C. Also, the database-handling routines seem to be
fairly robust. One point though; it is NOT a multi-user database.
The routines can be changed to handle different types of data without
too much modifications. All you would have to do is to supply the
appropriate data-entry routines, or at least translation routines from
char to the appropriate data type.
JB
--
Jonathan Bayer Intelligent Software Products, Inc.
(201) 245-5922 500 Oakwood Ave.
jba...@ispi.COM Roselle Park, NJ 07204
MA...@levels.sait.edu.au
> (Al Steven Books / Software .... Cheap Data Base ... etc.)
>
> I bought Al Stevens' earlier book and disk "C Development Tools for the
> IBM PC", and have also grabbed his screen-handling routines published in
> Doctor Dobbs' Journal from Compuserve. To his credit, he did send two bug
> fix postcards for the development tools (hmmm .... better support than some
> expensive products), but I've never cared for the design or crash-prone
> implementation of his libraries.
I do not have access (I think) to Compuserve, so could you tell me where else
I can get the screen-handling routines from?
What are the 2 bug fixes? I am unaware of them.
> Is the "Cheap Data BAse" more robust than the DDJ routines (I can crash
> data entry simply by inserting characters until the field overflows. of
> course, an end-user would **NEVER** do such a thing :-)). I can't see
> spending a lot of time debugging his code when commercial products are
> available at such low prices.
The speed with which data can be entered and queried after conceiving a
data base schema is astonishing.
I have not found any bugs yet, but an earlier posting informed us that there
may be a problem with the BTree indexing when the number of records reached
about 5000 entries - I would like a fix to this rather than using the
alternative routines suggested in that earlier posting.
-----------------
I am not entirely happy with the need for entering the data in key fields
in the order on the screen before the automatic search takes place. Has
anyone altered this?
Has anyone else made any improvements to CData? Mine was mentioned in an
earlier posting. I am working on others.
Ray Kennington
School of Mathematics and Computer Studies
South Australian Institute of Technology
Mark Lawrence
} seperately.
}
} PS: I would also be interested in joining a mailing list that discusses
} Cdata.
This is about the fourth or fifth person to express this. Since I'm one
of those expressing interest and no one else is immediately volunteering,
I'm willing to host the mailing list. Please send your e-name and
e-address to:
ma...@drd.com (MX serviced)
lawr...@tusun2.knet.utulsa.edu (real honest-to-pete internet host)
...uunet!apctrc!drd!mark (has current pathalias info)
...sun!tulsun!drd!mark (alternate bang path)
Whichever is easiest for you. I will respond with details.
--
ma...@DRD.Com
uunet!apctrc!drd!mark
(918) 743-3013