5 ms·

QuineDB – A quine that is also a key-value store

185 points by panic 10y ago

yolesaber 10y ago
This is the perfect storage solution for my beowulf cluster
p4bl0 10y ago
This is totally awesome, and fun. Also it makes me remember a work I participated in when I was still an undergrad: Can Code Polymorphism Limit Information Leakage? https://pablo.rauzy.name/research.html#amarilli2011polymorphism https://pablo.rauzy.name/research.html#amarilli2011polymorph... The idea is that based on a Quine with payload (similar to what QuineDB does) we are able to produce a different but equivalent version of the code, and replace it with this new version, so that each time it executes, the execution trace (e.g. power leakage) is different.
apeace 10y ago
Amazing. If you like this, you may also like Quine Relay, a quine program that cycles through 100 different languages: https://github.com/mame/quine-relay https://github.com/mame/quine-relay
qwertyuiop924 10y ago
This is one of those glorious "because I can" projects that I love to see on HN. It shows that in a world full of big data, VC, and startups, where tech is a big buisiness, we can still do something for the fun of it, without having a reason, or trying to provide value. In short, it shows that the hacker spirit isn't dead. I wonder if we can create a sort of Y combinator for quines: A function called YQ, that, when called with any function X as an argument will pass X a value that, when printed, generates reproduces both X and YQ, and calls X with YQ. I suppose the problem is that it would be hard to reproduce all of the values X depends on. You could just hedge on this, but that's not really the Right Thing. Also, I think this is the Most Functional database: it rebuilds the entire program every time state changes.
- panic 10y ago
  It's also the Most Object-Oriented database: it combines the data and the procedures to access that data into a single encapsulated object. An exemplary design in all respects!
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    See? I know OO and FP weren't mutually exclusive.
- karlkatzke 10y ago
  I wonder if we'll see the MongoDB investors throwing money at this next? I heard that they started the due diligence process into /dev/null, but somehow the process always came back as good without any actual content. /s
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    Well, I've heard that the Mongo investors in investing in some really revolutionary database technology next. Instead of having a document store, you have many "tables" each containing "rows" of objects of the same type. And the best part is that these objects can have relationships to other objects, allowing you to separate complex data into its components, and describe all kinds of systems. It has a strong mathematical background, and the creators have even developed an english like structured language for queries. It's already in use at Google and Facebook, so it's totally web scale. Crazy, right? /s
ashertrockman 10y ago
Really clever. I am working through EOPL, and this seems pretty familiar; it's the procedural representation of a database! Can't wait to deploy this with my next web app.
- jwiley 10y ago
  Whats EOPL?
  - ashertrockman 10y ago
    Essentials of Programming Languages; an introduction to functional programming, as well as other concepts.
    - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
      EPL isn't really about FP... it's more about programming languages.
m3kw9 10y ago
What's a Quine
- p4bl0 10y ago
  It is a program that produces its own source code as output. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine_%28computing%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine_%28computing%29
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- nialo 10y ago
  http://research.swtch.com/zip http://research.swtch.com/zip is a neat article about quines, worth reading if you haven't heard of them before.
__jal 10y ago
Now that's what I call continuous deployment!
cs702 10y ago
Love it! quinedb can even store an 'extra' snapshot copy of quinedb, with "quinedb" as the key, inside quinedb: quinedb set quinedb `cat quinedb` | sponge quinedb sponge, which is part of the moreutils package, soaks up standard input and then writes it to a file.
- drchickensalad 10y ago
  Why not cat > quinedb ?
  - scott_weber 10y ago
    Sponge delays the overwriting of the input file, so its not trying to read and write quinedb at the same time.
felixschl 10y ago
Love it, the Readme is hilarious. Looks like you could avoid some code duplication though with a little awk script run by the script on its own source.
kixpanganiban 10y ago
My favorite part of README.md: Can I run a QuineDB cluster? Well I mean, um.
smegel 10y ago
Will be a perfect backend for QuineWebFramework...
DictumMortuum 10y ago
In the company I'm working for I'm using a bash script that keeps track of my development builds, because I need to store multiple pieces of information for each one that are not readily available. For this reason I am storing stuff in a small sqlite database. If I was ever to do this again, I would strongly consider using QuineDB instead.

185 points by panic 10y ago

This is the perfect storage solution for my beowulf cluster

p4bl0 10y ago

This is totally awesome, and fun. Also it makes me remember a work I participated in when I was still an undergrad: Can Code Polymorphism Limit Information Leakage? https://pablo.rauzy.name/research.html#amarilli2011polymorphism https://pablo.rauzy.name/research.html#amarilli2011polymorph... The idea is that based on a Quine with payload (similar to what QuineDB does) we are able to produce a different but equivalent version of the code, and replace it with this new version, so that each time it executes, the execution trace (e.g. power leakage) is different.

apeace 10y ago

Amazing. If you like this, you may also like Quine Relay, a quine program that cycles through 100 different languages: https://github.com/mame/quine-relay https://github.com/mame/quine-relay

qwertyuiop924 10y ago

This is one of those glorious "because I can" projects that I love to see on HN. It shows that in a world full of big data, VC, and startups, where tech is a big buisiness, we can still do something for the fun of it, without having a reason, or trying to provide value. In short, it shows that the hacker spirit isn't dead. I wonder if we can create a sort of Y combinator for quines: A function called YQ, that, when called with any function X as an argument will pass X a value that, when printed, generates reproduces both X and YQ, and calls X with YQ. I suppose the problem is that it would be hard to reproduce all of the values X depends on. You could just hedge on this, but that's not really the Right Thing. Also, I think this is the Most Functional database: it rebuilds the entire program every time state changes.

panic 10y ago
It's also the Most Object-Oriented database: it combines the data and the procedures to access that data into a single encapsulated object. An exemplary design in all respects!
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago
  See? I know OO and FP weren't mutually exclusive.
karlkatzke 10y ago
I wonder if we'll see the MongoDB investors throwing money at this next? I heard that they started the due diligence process into /dev/null, but somehow the process always came back as good without any actual content. /s
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago
  Well, I've heard that the Mongo investors in investing in some really revolutionary database technology next. Instead of having a document store, you have many "tables" each containing "rows" of objects of the same type. And the best part is that these objects can have relationships to other objects, allowing you to separate complex data into its components, and describe all kinds of systems. It has a strong mathematical background, and the creators have even developed an english like structured language for queries. It's already in use at Google and Facebook, so it's totally web scale. Crazy, right? /s

ashertrockman 10y ago

Really clever. I am working through EOPL, and this seems pretty familiar; it's the procedural representation of a database! Can't wait to deploy this with my next web app.

jwiley 10y ago
Whats EOPL?
- ashertrockman 10y ago
  Essentials of Programming Languages; an introduction to functional programming, as well as other concepts.
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    EPL isn't really about FP... it's more about programming languages.

m3kw9 10y ago

What's a Quine

p4bl0 10y ago
It is a program that produces its own source code as output. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine_%28computing%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine_%28computing%29
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
nialo 10y ago
http://research.swtch.com/zip http://research.swtch.com/zip is a neat article about quines, worth reading if you haven't heard of them before.

__jal 10y ago

Now that's what I call continuous deployment!

cs702 10y ago

Love it! quinedb can even store an 'extra' snapshot copy of quinedb, with "quinedb" as the key, inside quinedb: quinedb set quinedb `cat quinedb` | sponge quinedb sponge, which is part of the moreutils package, soaks up standard input and then writes it to a file.

drchickensalad 10y ago
Why not cat > quinedb ?
- scott_weber 10y ago
  Sponge delays the overwriting of the input file, so its not trying to read and write quinedb at the same time.

felixschl 10y ago

Love it, the Readme is hilarious. Looks like you could avoid some code duplication though with a little awk script run by the script on its own source.

kixpanganiban 10y ago

My favorite part of README.md: Can I run a QuineDB cluster? Well I mean, um.

smegel 10y ago

Will be a perfect backend for QuineWebFramework...

DictumMortuum 10y ago

In the company I'm working for I'm using a bash script that keeps track of my development builds, because I need to store multiple pieces of information for each one that are not readily available. For this reason I am storing stuff in a small sqlite database. If I was ever to do this again, I would strongly consider using QuineDB instead.