What's the FASTEST file storage option ?

[transtec]

Hi all,
Im building an application in Java where indexing and storing of data is a major area of the app. It should be able to store the data as well as retrieve them rapidly as well as the files should be small in size.

Knowing Java's popularity with XML, I've chosen that as one candidate, but the problem is Im not too sure how the above 2 criteria will match with XML.

1) Is XML fast enuf considering retrieval of data ?
2) And how about the storage sizes ?

Or should I scrap XML and build my own version file structure such as a B-tree ?
How difficult would that be considering limited development time ?

thanx in advance ....

 

[transtec]

I cannot use a DBMS as it is for a p2p app and it needs to be installed on client PCs globally.

Also if u do hav any web links to such documents showing fast file storage, could you post them pls ?
It doesnt have to be XML, any discussion relating to fast file storage and access options should be good enuf !

 

[sedj]

If you need indexed data, then the quickest medium is I'm afraid to say, an RDBMS.

XML would be ridiculously slow. XML should be used for its purpose - data transmission between applications which need a common format.

If you want really cannot use an RDBMS, then I would formulate some kind of binary format, and use a b-tree alogorithm, and write it in C, not Java - but really, you should use an RDBMS. So its peer to peer - great, so why not use a remote database ?

One other option is to use HSQL (

http://www.hsqldb.org/)

- an in-memory RDBMS written in Java., which also supports disk persistence.

Basically, what I am saying is - use a database - its what is designed for storing data and providing indexed data access !

'enuf' is spelt 'enough' BTW.

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Free Java/J2EE Database Connection Pooling Software

http://www.primrose.org.uk

 

[stefanwagner]

'small in size' and 'fast enough' are meaningless terms.
How many bytes, how is the data grouped logically (30000 rows, each containing a string (size about 15 chars), date, int, ...).
Does the client know the dataformat in advance (allways the same kind of data)?

If you transfer it via the web, this might be the limiting factor.
How fast is fast enogh?

Zipping an xml-File might reduce it drastically.



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