The Definitive Guide to SQLite (Definitive Guide)

Description

These days, applications are expected to efficiently manage an ever growing range of data. Yet it's rarely practical to embed a traditional relational database such as Oracle or MySQL within an application, due to not only size constraints but also because of the additional administrative overhead these databases require. While embeddable databases are small enough to ensure little additional total increase in application size, they often have little to offer by way of capabilities and power. So what's a developer to do? For many, the answer is SQLite (http://www.sqlite.org/), an open source embeddable database with an amazingly small footprint (less than 250 Kb) but packing a powerful array of features. Capable of handling databases as large as 2 terabytes, SQLite offers a flexible set of datatypes, the ability to perform transactions, and is supported by languages such as C, PHP, Perl, and Python. Furthermore, because SQLite's databases are completely file-based, privileges are granted at the operating system-level, allowing for easy and fast user management. The Definitive Guide to SQLite is the first book to devote complete coverage to the latest version of this powerful database. Offering experienced database developers a thorough overview of its capabilities and APIs, yet cognizant of newcomers who may be making their first foray into the database environment with SQLite, this book acts as both an ideal tutorial and reference guide.