[Eony]

I have been browsing the SA:MP forums alot lately, mostly reading people's comments, and found that most people is having a curious misconception of what a database is. Here are a few examples :

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burridge [...] However with a large playerbase saving data to a database rather than text files is probably a faster option. I must stress however that this post may not be accurate or correct, as I only work with MySQL/SQLite, and not ini systems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Y_Less It is based on files, but with DB style features for looking up things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay_ It depends on the data you're loading / saving, how much of it there is, and the type of data. If, for example, it was a user account system for a popular server, then databases generally are much faster so therefore it would be BUD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Y_Less It really does depend. y_ini is optimised for loading a load of continuous data from a file, databases are much better at pulling different chunks of data from different places and combining them.

"Database rather than text files", "files but with database-style features"

Both are a perfect example for this misconception, let me explain :

There are two main types of databases used in programming, no matter what the language is :

• Flat-File
• Relational

- Flat-File databases are a type of data storage structure that relays on files. As long as you are storing data in "plain" (Yet following a pattern) text files, that is called a database.

- Relational databases are what they (quotes above) apparently think as being the only database type (These are mostly known as SQL databases, so I guess I don't need to go through any further explanations).

A database is, in short, a structure you follow when storing and gathering information. It can be SQL, but let's not forget that files can also form databases.


More info here, here and here.