4 ms·

I'd also like to draw attention to the parent project Firebird. For some reason (probably its ties to Borland/Delphi?) it never became widely popular, even thou

I'd also like to draw attention to the parent project Firebird. For some reason (probably its ties to Borland/Delphi?) it never became widely popular, even though it combines SQLite's ease of use with a proper fully featured database engine. For example, it supports proper ALTER TABLE which doesn't force you to recreate tables and copy data around when you go beyond the most trivial use cases. This is pretty much the only discussion I've found on this site: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22155260 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22155260

exabrial 8mo ago
Just curious, because I don’t know, Postegres is all the rage, MySql is the og, where does Firebird carve its niche?
- homebrewer 8mo ago
  These days, feature-wise, it's probably somewhere in the middle. It had support for things like window functions long before they became available in MySQL and friends. What it gives you over both is single-file databases which are easy to share, and in-process embedded mode, just like SQLite. Unlike SQLite, it doesn't only support embedded mode, but can also be turned into a "server" DBMS that supports remote access from multiple clients (like MySQL/PostgreSQL). Hundreds of concurrent connections work fine from what I've seen. This can be changed in either direction at your discretion, the database file remains the same.
- re-thc 8mo ago
  > Postegres is all the rage, MySql is the og From "influencers" i.e. YouTubers? OG real world was Oracle and SQL Server.
  - steve1977 8mo ago
    Actually, considering its Ingres roots, I'd consider PostgreSQL OG as well. MS SQL Server on the other hand was just a port of Sybase (for OS/2) initially.
- whartung 8mo ago
  My favorite anecdote relating to Firebird/Interbase (its original name) is that it is supposed to be renowned for its durability (i.e. resistance to corruption) and fast start times. Because of this, they used it within the internal systems of the M-1 Abrahms tank. Apparently when the main gun is fired, it gives off such a powerful energy impulse, that there is (at least was) a tendency for it to crash the internal systems. So, they adopted Interbase because of its ability to work well in an environment where hard computer crashes are more a norm than an outlier.
throw77488 8mo ago
Firebird is quite popular in russia. Relevant discussion here: https://forum.root.cz/index.php?topic=30553.msg421320#msg421320 https://forum.root.cz/index.php?topic=30553.msg421320#msg421...

exabrial 8mo ago

Just curious, because I don’t know, Postegres is all the rage, MySql is the og, where does Firebird carve its niche?

homebrewer 8mo ago
These days, feature-wise, it's probably somewhere in the middle. It had support for things like window functions long before they became available in MySQL and friends. What it gives you over both is single-file databases which are easy to share, and in-process embedded mode, just like SQLite. Unlike SQLite, it doesn't only support embedded mode, but can also be turned into a "server" DBMS that supports remote access from multiple clients (like MySQL/PostgreSQL). Hundreds of concurrent connections work fine from what I've seen. This can be changed in either direction at your discretion, the database file remains the same.
re-thc 8mo ago
> Postegres is all the rage, MySql is the og From "influencers" i.e. YouTubers? OG real world was Oracle and SQL Server.
- steve1977 8mo ago
  Actually, considering its Ingres roots, I'd consider PostgreSQL OG as well. MS SQL Server on the other hand was just a port of Sybase (for OS/2) initially.
whartung 8mo ago
My favorite anecdote relating to Firebird/Interbase (its original name) is that it is supposed to be renowned for its durability (i.e. resistance to corruption) and fast start times. Because of this, they used it within the internal systems of the M-1 Abrahms tank. Apparently when the main gun is fired, it gives off such a powerful energy impulse, that there is (at least was) a tendency for it to crash the internal systems. So, they adopted Interbase because of its ability to work well in an environment where hard computer crashes are more a norm than an outlier.

throw77488 8mo ago

Firebird is quite popular in russia. Relevant discussion here: https://forum.root.cz/index.php?topic=30553.msg421320#msg421320 https://forum.root.cz/index.php?topic=30553.msg421320#msg421...