Datomic is built around a simple log of fully serial transactions. It doesn't have MVCC or other such magic to coordinate concurrent writers, and this means (1)

Datomic is built around a simple log of fully serial transactions. It doesn't have MVCC or other such magic to coordinate concurrent writers, and this means (1) read-only queries don't require open transactions and (2) the whole stack can have mechanically sympathy with this accrete-only design, affording massive efficiency and scaling potential. Capabilities may look similar on the surface but that's where the similarity ends. Take a look at slides 13 & 14: https://qconsf.com/sf2012/dl/qcon-sanfran-2012/slides/RichHickey_DeconstructingTheDatabase.pdf https://qconsf.com/sf2012/dl/qcon-sanfran-2012/slides/RichHi... Datomic is much more similar to Delta Lake or Apache Iceberg than to a classic RDBMS like Oracle in that respect - but then that analogy severely undervalues it's information modelling qualities.