<h2>About SQLite</h2>
<p>
SQLite is a small C library that implements a
<a href="selfcontained.html">self-contained</a>, 
<a href="serverless.html">serverless</a>,
<a href="zeroconf.html">zero-configuration</a>,
<a href="transactional.html">transactional</a>
SQL database engine.
</p>

<h3>Features:</h3>

<p><ul>
<li><a href="transactional.html">Transactions</a>
    are atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID)
    even after system crashes and power failures.</li>
<li><a href="zeroconf.html">Zero-configuration</a>
     - no setup or administration needed.</li>
<li>Implements most of SQL92.
    (<a href="omitted.html">Features not supported</a>)</li>
<li>A complete database is stored in a 
    <a href="onefile.html">single cross-platform disk file</a>.</li>
<li>Supports terabyte-sized databases and gigabyte-sized strings
    and blobs.  (See <a href="limits.html">limits.html</a>.)
<li>Small code footprint: 
    <a href="http://www.sqlite.org/cvstrac/wiki?p=SizeOfSqlite">
    less than 250KiB</a> fully configured or less
    than 150KiB with optional features omitted.</li>
<li><a href="speed.html">Faster</a> than popular client/server database
    engines for most common operations.</li>
<li>Simple, easy to use <a href="c3ref/intro.html">API</a>.</li>
<li><a href="tclsqlite.html">TCL bindings</a> included.
    Bindings for many other languages 
    <a href="http://www.sqlite.org/cvstrac/wiki?p=SqliteWrappers">
    available separately.</a></li>
<li>Well-commented source code with over 98% test coverage.</li>
<li>Available as a 
    <a href="http://www.sqlite.org/cvstrac/wiki?p=TheAmalgamation">
    single ANSI-C source-code file</a> that you can easily drop into
    another project.
<li><a href="selfcontained.html">Self-contained</a>:
    no external dependencies.</li>
<li>Cross-platform: Linux (unix), MacOSX, OS/2, Win32 and WinCE are supported
    out of the box.  Easy to port to other systems.
<li>Sources are in the <a href="copyright.html">public domain</a>.
    Use for any purpose.</li>
<li>Comes with a standalone <a href="sqlite.html">command-line interface</a>
    (CLI) client that can be used to administer SQLite databases.</li>
</ul>
</p>

<h3>Suggested Uses:</h3>

<p><ul>
<li><p><b>Application File Format.</b>
Rather than using fopen() to write XML or some proprietary format into
disk files used by your application, use an SQLite database instead.
You'll avoid having to write and troubleshoot a parser, your data
will be more easily accessible and cross-platform, your updates
will transactional.</p></li>

<li><p><b>Database For Gadgets.</b>
SQLite is popular choice for the database engine in cellphones,
PDAs, MP3 players, set-top boxes, and other electronic gadgets.
SQLite has a small code footprint, makes efficient use of memory,
disk space, and disk bandwidth, is highly reliable, and requires
no maintenance from a Database Adminstrator.</p></li>

<li><p><b>Website Database.</b>
Because it requires no configuration and stores information in order
disk files, SQLite is a popular choice as the database to back small
to medium-sized websites.</p></li>

<li><p><b>Stand-in For An Enterprise RDBMS.</b>
SQLite is often used as a surrogate for an enterprise RDBMS for
demonstration purposes or for testing.  SQLite is fast and requires
no setup, which takes a lot of the hassle out of testing and which
makes demos perky and easy to launch.</p></li>
</ul>
