Good relational database system, under Window?

[Underseer]

Anyone can link to a good database freeware?

I'll need a relational database system, under Window.

There are several contenders: https://blog.capterra.com/free-database-software/

Any opinions on these?

Thanks!
EB

Why do you think you need a relational database? What are you going to use it for?

99% of Java developers think a relational database is "a bucket to dump lists of information into".

[...]

Buwahahahahahahaha!

I'll need a relational database system, under Window.

The easiest one is SQLite. I once used it a bit, and using it is E-Z. It does not use a database-server process, and the database's contents are stored in a file that one points to with the SQLite software. So selecting it is essentially selecting a file to open.

However, it does not do large datasets very well, I mean datasets in the hundreds of megabytes or gigabytes. Speakpigeon, how much data do you want to store?


Relational databases store their data in tables, essentially spreadsheets with named columns. The data attributes of each column's entries are the same by column, though different columns can have different attributes. Attributes like string, integer, unique (yes, one can impose uniqueness), whatever the software supports. SQL ("Structured Query Language") is a language for manipulating the contents of these tables. Here is the W3Schools tutorial: SQL Tutorial -- to read from a database, use the "SELECT" command. To add new data, "INSERT", to alter data, "UPDATE", and to delete data, "DELETE". There is also a lot of stuff for specifying data sources and destinations, conditions to perform some operation, etc.


There are some alternatives to relational databases, like key-value ones and hierarchical ones. Key-value databases are easy to do within relational ones, but hierarchies are more difficult. One gives every row a unique ID number, and one also gives each row a parent ID number in the hierarchy. The root node gets some special parent ID number, like 0 or -1 or NULL (blank database entry, not 0 or a zero-length string).

MySQL is a better non-professional / non-critical process choice. SQLite is about the same in quality as MS Access. If you can use SQLite for your "application", then you might as well just use Excel and learn the VLOOKUP function, heh.

I've actually done that, and it's not as easy as you make it sound.

Back in the 1990s, I worked as a subcontractor for a girlfriend.

The project really should have been a database, but because the client was bankers in the 1990s, they wanted it done in Excel because that was virtually the only software bankers of that time understood. My girlfriend took the job thinking that the obnoxious requirements of the client would result in more billable hours.

Yes, I was able to make it work using elaborate macros and extensive use of VLOOKUP(), but it was easily one of the more horrifying experiences of my professional career. Worse than providing tech support to high level executives or trying to explain how menus work to someone with an associates degree in computer science.