SQLite

SQLite is a relatively small C library, which provides services of an SQL database engine. Its creator is D. Richard Hipp and the software is in the public domain.

Unlike the usual client-server paradigm, the SQLite engine is not a standalone process with which the program communicates, but is linked in and thus becomes an integral part of the program. Therefore the primary communication protocol are direct API calls within the programming language. This can have a positive impact on the amount of overhead, latency times and overall simplicity. The database is stored as a standard file.

The library implements most of SQL 92 standard, including transactions, triggers and (most) complex queries.

Several processes or threads may access the same database without problems. Several read accesses can be satisfied in parallel. A write access can only be satisfied if no other accesses are currently being serviced; otherwise the write access fails with an error code (or can automatically be retried until a configurable timeout expires).

A standalone program called sqlite is provided which can be used to query and manage SQLite database files. It also serves as an example for writing applications that use the SQLite library.

The library can be used from C/C++ programs, but bindings for Tcl and several other scripting languages are also available.

The PHP programming language that is commonly being used to develop dynamic web sites includes SQLite since PHP5, as well as support for more traditional SQL databases.

External links

• http://www.sqlite.org