NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #26/NN_1992_26.iso/spool/comp/database/7666

Text File | 1992-11-07 | 1.9 KB | 40 lines

Newsgroups: comp.databases
Path: sparky!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!athena.cs.uga.edu!ashley
From: [e-mail] (Greg Ashley)
Subject: Efficiency enhancement of Large DBMS?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail] (Greg Ashley)
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 14:42:19 GMT
Lines: 28

We have been given the opportunity of revamping an existing data management
system that is written in FoxPro 2.0  It was designed to function with
relatively small databases (6,000 records), but it needs to now be able to
work with about 50,000 records and maybe more in the future.

The current system runs really slow with these numbers of records.  It is
run on a small Novell network (version 2.2(5)) that has a 386 server and
mostly 286 workstations.  New hardware is a viable option, but we will need
to make substantive changes to the database system to facilitate other
improvements besides increased speed.  However, our main task is to
greatly enhance system performance while allowing for future flexibility.  We
have been asked to leave as much of the code as possible in Foxpro.

The system is comprised of about 75 modules, 15 procedures, and 25
databases.  Most of the modules are relatively short (<200 lines of code).
We have considered the following options: 1) leaving the bulk of the code in
FoxPro and writing especially slow sections in Pascal or C++, 2) rewriting
the entire system in C++ or pascal, and/or 3) new hardware (i.e. 486's).  We
would greatly appreciate any suggestions that would help us decide the best
option.  We would consider any options (but we have a time constraint of
about 3 months to finish this project and we only have about 30 hours/week
to devote to this).  Thank you in advance!

Greg Ashley

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