java acedb database

Wed Aug 17 23:14:00 GMT 2005

> Dear java/gnu herders
>> I am one of the main authors of ACEDB (http://www.acedb.org), an object 
> oriented database system which has been used worldwide for the human 
> genome project (http://www.aceview.org)
> The code is in C, about 250k lines, runs on any unix ever tested, and is 
> freely distributed under gnu-licence
>> Because the code is now 15 years old, and single threaded, I consider 
> redesigning it.
>> The natural choice of language may be C++, but it seems to me that Java 
> class hierarchy and variable scoping
> are preferable to C++. However, untill recently, Java could not be 
> considered because a database kernel has to be compiled in native 
> machine code, interpreted byte code is necessarily too slow.
>> Here are my questions,
>> 1) considering the development of GCJ (gcc-java) would you recemmend 
> Java to write a large code where performance is crucial. Critical 
> operations are sorting, hashing, string searches. How would the speed 
> compare to dedicated C code.
>> 2) Will Java provide a performant implementation of multi threading.
>> 3) Is it true that, using GCJ, Iwill be able to compile on (nearly) any 
> unix machine (ibm,sun,mac,hp,intel....)
>>>> Separatelly, if i redesignh acedb i would like to integrate it better 
> within the efforts of the gnu fundation. I do not think that gnu has 
> anything so far duplicating the scope and performance of acedb and 
> would like to get in touch with somebody who might be interested 
> in this project.
>> yours
>> Jean Thierry-Mieg
> National Center for Bioinformatics
> NCBI. NLM. NIH Bldg 38A
> 8600 Rockville Pike
> Bethesda, MD 20894, USA
> Tel 1 (301) 435 49 21 Fax 1 (301) 480 92 41
>