db4o (object database)
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db4o (database for objects) is a high-performance, embeddedable open source object database for Java and .NET developers.
It is developed, commercially licensed and supported by db4objects, Inc., which is a privately-held company based in San Mateo, California. The company was incorporated in 2004 under CEO Christof Wittig, with the financial backing of top-tier Silicon Valley investors including Mark Leslie, founding CEO of Veritas, Vinod Khosla, founding CEO of SUN Microsystems, and Jerry Fiddler, founding CEO of Wind River.
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[edit] History
db4o was created in 2000 by Chief Architect Carl Rosenberger, and first shipped in 2001. Some 100 commercial pilot customers and a loyal user community have endorsed db4o from its earliest days, and proved it ready for mission-critical applications prior to its commercial launch in 2004.
[edit] Licensing
The full version of db4o is available under two licenses (dual license): the open source, GPL, which enables easy download, evaluation, and use in GPL compliant projects; and a commercial runtime license with indemnification from db4objects for product development companies that wish to embed db4o into their commercial, non-GPL products.
[edit] Support
db4objects, Inc. offers support via the db4o Developer Network (dDN) membership: Direct, private 24/7 support with a response time of less than 24 hours by means of the dDN Member Portal. Members get free updates on all purchased runtimes as well as free developer licenses to benefit from db4o's ongoing innovations. Only members can lock in a binding dRT runtime price agreement in order to make fixed budget assumptions for their product planning .
[edit] Features
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One-Line-of-Code Database: Store any object with just one line of code
Embeddable: db4o is designed to be embedded in clients or other software components completely invisible to the end user. Thus, db4o needs no separate installation mechanism, but comes as just one easily deployable library with a very low footprint of some 400KB
Portability and Cross-Platform Deployment: db4o supports Java's JDK 1.1.x through 5.0 and runs on J2EE and J2SE. db4o also runs with J2ME dialects that support reflection, such as CDC, PersonalProfile, Symbian, Savaje and Zaurus. Depending on customer demand, db4o will also run on dialects without reflection, such as CLDC, MIDP, RIM/Blackberry and Palm OS.
Native Queries: Rather than using string-based APIs (such as SQL, OQL, JDOQL, EJBQL, and SODA), NQs allow developers to simply use the programming language itself (e.g., Java, C#, or VB.NET) to access the database and thus avoid a constant, productivity-reducing context switch between programming language and data access API.
