SQLite

set rcsid {$Id: different.tcl,v 1.3 2005/03/12 15:55:11 drh Exp $}
source common.tcl
header {Distinctive Features Of SQLite}
puts {
<p>
This page highlights some of the characteristics of SQLite that are
unusual and which make SQLite different from many other SQL
database engines.

  database run faster, since there is less information to move to and from
  disk.  And, the use of variable-length records makes it possible for
  SQLite to employ manifest typing instead of static typing.
}

feature readable {Readable source code} {
  The source code to SQLite is designed to be readable and accessible to
  the average programmer.  All procedures and and data structures and many
  automatic variables are carefully commented with useful information about
  what they do.  Boilerplate commenting is omitted.
}

feature vdbe {SQL statements compile into virtual machine code} {
  Every SQL database engine compiles each SQL statement into some kind of
  internal data structure which is then used to carry out the work of the

  The use of a virtual machine in SQLite has been a great benefit to
  library's development.  The virtual machine provides a crisp, well-defined
  junction between the front-end of SQLite (the part that parses SQL
  statements and generates virtual machine code) and the back-end (the
  part that executes the virtual machine code and computes a result.)
  The virtual machine allows the developers to see clearly and in an
  easily readable form what SQLite is trying to do with each statement
  it compiles, which is a tremendous help in debuggings.
  Depending on how it is compiled, SQLite also has the capability of
  tracing the execution of the virtual machine - printing each
  virtual machine instruction and its result as it executes.
}

#feature binding {Tight bindings to dynamic languages} {
#  Because it is embedded, SQLite can have a much tighter and more natural

#
# Run this TCL script to generate HTML for the goals.html file.
#
set rcsid {$Id: whentouse.tcl,v 1.4 2005/01/20 22:48:49 drh Exp $}
source common.tcl
header {Appropriate Uses For SQLite}

puts {
<p>
SQLite is different from most other SQL database engines in that its
primary design goal is to be simple:

Simplicity in a database engine can be either a strength or a
weakness, depending on what you are trying to do.  In order to
achieve simplicity, SQLite has had to sacrifice other characteristics
that some people find useful, such as high concurrency, fine-grained
access control, a rich set of built-in functions, stored procedures,
esoteric SQL language features, XML and/or Java extensions,
tera- or peta-byte scalability, and so forth.  If you need some of these
latter of features and do not mind the added complexity that they
bring, then SQLite is probably not the database for you.
SQLite is not intended to be an enterprise database engine.  It
not designed to compete with Oracle or PostgreSQL.
</p>

<p>
The basic rule of thumb for when it is appropriate to use SQLite is