What is an “Object Database” and when is it beneficial to use one? [closed]

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Closed 9 years ago.

I'm quite familiar with what I understand to be relational databases such as mysql where you have tables, rows, columns and joins to figure out how content relates.

Someone suggested I use an object database for a project I'm busy with but I don't know what an object database is nor when it would be beneficial over a relational database.

I have already googled, wikipedia is a wealth of information (yes, sarcasm) and I must admit the few links I followed were not particularly enlightening. I therefore turn to the future google; crowd sourcing information. Does anyone know a good article I can read, or could anyone explain it to me.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

The main idea behind an object database is that you would be storing the objects as is inside your database, e.g. not breaking them up into relational constructs like tables with rows and columns.

The basic premise is that retrieving an object from such an object database would be much simpler - just "grab" the object, no mapping, no translation or anything needed.

See some links for more information:

• db4o (db4objects) - maker of an object database for .NET and Java (open source)
• ODMBS.org - site with lots of good (and freely useable) information on ODBMS

The biggest challenge for OO-DB is making the finding and retrieving of those objects stored as simple as possible, and also provide good performance. And their lack of widespread use also hinders their adoption.