Invisible wrote:
> An object/relational hybrid "suitable for telecommunications applications"?

By which they mean reliable, distributed, fairly fast, keeps everything in 
RAM, and expects to run continuously, but which there aren't going to be any 
ad hoc queries.

> It says it has "extremely fast real-time searches", but it also says 
> that the query language is "an add-on library"?

I guess it's extremely fast real-time searches *if* you know exactly what 
you're going to search for. Otherwise, it does a full table lock-and-scan 
without any optimization. And you have to maintain your own indexes, so 
after you insert the record into the table, you have to insert the key into 
each index as well.

The query language isn't the functions used to access the tables. It's sort 
of like saying "We have really fast loops and comparisons. List 
comprehensions are an add-on library."

> Reading the rest of the documentation just made my head hurt. I 
> particularly love how a "table" can be "set", "ordered set" or "bag", 
> but only the first and last option are explained.

That's exactly what I'm saying. You're expected to know that "set" and 
"ordered set" and "bag" are the three different types of ets tables, and go 
read the ets documentation to figure out what that is.

> A reference manual is no way to learn how to use a complex system.

In this case, the other choice is to go work for Ericson, it seems.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
  "How did he die?"   "He got shot in the hand."
     "That was fatal?"
          "He was holding a live grenade at the time."

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