Choosing the right database-system for a small project

[Steve Williams]

Thomas Weholt ( PRIVAT ) wrote:
> I've got a rather small project, small in the sense that there's not a lot
> of different tables needed in the database/storage-system, but there will be
> alot of data and the clients must be able to scan thru huge amounts of data
> very fast ( Not serial scanning, but lookups by key, preferrably several
> keys pr record, ie. I need to lookup people both by SSN and by
> first/last-name etc. )
> 

I use Firebird (1.0) with Kinterbasdb in a system which installs easily 
and runs on Windows XP, Windows 98, Linux RH 8.0, and Windows 95.  (The 
screens are wxPython).  I use a variable length version of Russell 
Soundex for person retrievals (Last Name + FirstName), 'name contains' 
for organization retrievals, and indexes for SSN and 'other key' retrievals

I have always liked Firebird/Interbase because it requires no 
administration, has elegant stored procedures, great transactional 
processing, and is open source.

http://firebird.sourceforge.net/

http://kinterbasdb.sourceforge.net/

If you try Firebird, have a look at IBExpert.  Great for debugging and 
general poking around the database.  The personal edition is free.

http://www.ibexpert.com/