SQLite

Rating:
Summary: faster than MySQL
Review: My impression was that PHP and MySQL were de facto two sides of the same coin. Many websites using PHP deploy MySQL on the backend. Indeed, there have been several books written about implementing this combination. But Newman offers a simple alternative. A stripped down SQL database that he claims will suffice for many websites. Indeed, he points out that SQLite has proved persuasive enough that PHP5 ships with it.

Going over its syntax, the book shows much of SQLite to be generic SQL. Given that whatever database you choose, you should probably stick to standard SQL as much as possible, then SQLite suffers from no particular deficiency here.

What is distinctive is that its data resides in just one file. Greatly eases administration. Plus, other databases are often implemented as client-server, so as to service queries coming in from the Net. It is indeed a disadvantage that SQLite cannot do this. But in return, by eliminating a network layer, it can be twice as fast as MySQL. Wow.

Cautiously, I'd say it may be attractive to some websites.