Martin Drautzburg <martin.drautzburg at web.de> wrote:
> goran.hultgren at bluefish.se writes:
> > In fact at my latest large project we used GemStone/J (an OODB for Java)
> > with over 1300 domain classes. We stored literally millions of instances
> > in the database and the domain model was *very* complex and all the way
> > totally OO (these guys are Smalltalkers inside). 
> 
> Why did you chose GemStone and not J2EE as "everybody" else does ? Was
> it difficult to convince your customer ?

Given the model complexity and the functions they wanted - in
combination with their dedication to clean OO, it just never was an
option to use an RDB at the bottom. It would have sunk the project both
performance wise and complexity wise.

This project was also started before the J2EE craze and even though they
did have pressure (this was a product company) to use an RDB, the
developers prevailed and simply said that "No, if you want us to deliver
this functionality it's simply not an option.".

The system was/is extremely impressive but the company died due to dried
up investors. One of the remarkable things was that the system includes
a feature complete QXpress killer that is multi author "aware". One of
the coolest demos was that multiple page editors (we are talking
newspapers here) could edit the same page at the same time with
simultaneous updates on the screen in front of you.

When one author moved and enlarged an image it would jump and enlarge on
all other screens where it was visible at the time. Unless you used
locks etc of course.

regards, Göran

PS. This QXpress killer in pure Java may see the light some day - one of
the lead developers has some plans.