Re: [boost] SOCI 3.0.0 - The Database Access Library

From: Ion Gaztañaga (igaztanaga_at_[hidden])
Date: 2008-07-10 11:57:11

Maciej Sobczak wrote:
> Hi,
[...]
> 
> What is the future of database interfacing from the Boost community 
> point of view?
> 
> Proposing SOCI as a candidate library for Boost might be a possible 
> answer to this question, but it is not obvious in a wider perspective. 
> Some of the SOCI users do not use Boost for various reasons and this 
> justifies retaining SOCI as a separate entity (note: even though SOCI 
> offers extensive integration with Boost, it does not mandate it and SOCI 
> can be compiled without any reference to Boost). Most likely solution is 
> to keep SOCI orbiting around Boost in terms of coding conventions and 
> seamless interfacing, as it does today, so that benefits for all 
> interested parties can be retained.

You don't need to maintain SOCI tightly coupled with Boost. 
Boost.Intrusive, for example, has only minor dependencies 
(configuration, static assert and some lightweight dependencies), 
because some users (specially embedded programmers) prefer a library 
that can be easily isolated and integrated in their code.

> Your comments and suggestions considering the above are very welcome.

1) I think a solid ODBC backend is a must for a Boost DB library. After 
all, ODBC is the most widely used driver. Is SOCI ODBC compatibility 
mature or still needs serious work?

2) Do we know how efficient SOCI is? I understand that database 
operations might be in most cases more expensive than SOCI operations, 
but I was just curious.

> Cheers,

Regards,

Ion