4 ms·

Absurd-SQL – Use sqlite3 on the web with storage in IndexedDB

92 points by timdorr 5y ago

hangonhn 5y ago
I love absurd ideas like this because they sort of push the notion of what is possible. Some of my favorite projects have started out with "Crazy ideas but..." Thanks for sharing. Love it.
laurent123456 5y ago
Duplicate: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28156831 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28156831
gnabgib 5y ago
Doesn't look like your project Tim? (so the title shouldn't include Show HN). The blog post [0] from James seems to be a better link. https://jlongster.com/future-sql-web https://jlongster.com/future-sql-web
thunderbong 5y ago
If you're not the author, you should not post it as "Show HN". Show HN is for sharing your personal work and has special rules. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html
starik36 5y ago
That's actually not that absurd. It provides a familiar way to deal with data in scenarios where using IndexedDB alone would be difficult at the very least.
jmnicolas 5y ago
I feel a bit stupid but I don't understand what his project does, so if someone is kind enough to ELI5 I would be grateful.
- oconnore 5y ago
  My understanding: SQLite: SQL -> SQLite C query engine -> POSIX Filesystem Absurd-SQL: SQL -> (WASM) SQLite C query engine -> "filesystem" shim code -> IndexedDB
  - jmnicolas 5y ago
    So if I get it, he talks directly to SQLite through WASM because it's faster than IndexedDB. Why keep IndexedDB in the loop then?
    - BackBlast 5y ago
      When you're running a webapp it's the primary cross-platform storage facility provided. It sounds like he's doing some buffering and bulk writes to optimize the use of indexeddb rather than just passing through each query to try to mask some of the slowness of the end storage.
    - alienalp 5y ago
      It is what available for persistent storage. IndexedDB run queries very slow but throughput is good enough so rather big chunks of data stored in single cell to offset latency. And IndexedDB is just one storage backend. Author says he experimented with webkitFileSystem but didn't matched IndexedDBs througput. Point of this project is storage medium abstracted so in future it will be replaced with what's better.
- rasz 5y ago
  IndexedDB is a dumpster fire we all got screwed over with by Mozilla after they declared "inelegant developer aesthetics" of WebSQL and killed real life usable SQL engine https://hacks.mozilla.org/2010/06/beyond-html5-database-apis-and-the-road-to-indexeddb/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2010/06/beyond-html5-database-apis... This is how we ended with a cow shit IndexedDB nobody uses without some middle layers. This is one of those middle layers making using SQL database client side actually viable, by hiding IndexedDB as deep as possible. tldr: Mozilla's fault

92 points by timdorr 5y ago

I love absurd ideas like this because they sort of push the notion of what is possible. Some of my favorite projects have started out with "Crazy ideas but..." Thanks for sharing. Love it.

laurent123456 5y ago

Duplicate: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28156831 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28156831

gnabgib 5y ago

Doesn't look like your project Tim? (so the title shouldn't include Show HN). The blog post [0] from James seems to be a better link. https://jlongster.com/future-sql-web https://jlongster.com/future-sql-web

thunderbong 5y ago

If you're not the author, you should not post it as "Show HN". Show HN is for sharing your personal work and has special rules. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

starik36 5y ago

That's actually not that absurd. It provides a familiar way to deal with data in scenarios where using IndexedDB alone would be difficult at the very least.

jmnicolas 5y ago

I feel a bit stupid but I don't understand what his project does, so if someone is kind enough to ELI5 I would be grateful.

oconnore 5y ago
My understanding: SQLite: SQL -> SQLite C query engine -> POSIX Filesystem Absurd-SQL: SQL -> (WASM) SQLite C query engine -> "filesystem" shim code -> IndexedDB
- jmnicolas 5y ago
  So if I get it, he talks directly to SQLite through WASM because it's faster than IndexedDB. Why keep IndexedDB in the loop then?
  - BackBlast 5y ago
    When you're running a webapp it's the primary cross-platform storage facility provided. It sounds like he's doing some buffering and bulk writes to optimize the use of indexeddb rather than just passing through each query to try to mask some of the slowness of the end storage.
  - alienalp 5y ago
    It is what available for persistent storage. IndexedDB run queries very slow but throughput is good enough so rather big chunks of data stored in single cell to offset latency. And IndexedDB is just one storage backend. Author says he experimented with webkitFileSystem but didn't matched IndexedDBs througput. Point of this project is storage medium abstracted so in future it will be replaced with what's better.
rasz 5y ago
IndexedDB is a dumpster fire we all got screwed over with by Mozilla after they declared "inelegant developer aesthetics" of WebSQL and killed real life usable SQL engine https://hacks.mozilla.org/2010/06/beyond-html5-database-apis-and-the-road-to-indexeddb/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2010/06/beyond-html5-database-apis... This is how we ended with a cow shit IndexedDB nobody uses without some middle layers. This is one of those middle layers making using SQL database client side actually viable, by hiding IndexedDB as deep as possible. tldr: Mozilla's fault