Chapter 17. Databases Overview

17.1.1. In-Memory Databases in a Single Process

If, for example, we want to store the number of Perl objects that exist in our program's data, we can use a variable as a volatile database:

package Book::ObjectCounter;
use strict;
my $object_count = 0;
sub new {
    my $class = shift;
    $object_count++;
    return bless {  }, $class;
}
sub DESTROY {
    $object_count--;
}

In this example, $object_countserves as a database—it stores the number of currently available objects. When a new object is created this variable increments its value, and when an object gets destroyed the value is decremented.

Now imagine a server, such as mod_perl, where the process can run for months or even years without quitting. Doing this kind of accounting is perfectly suited for the purpose, for if the process quits, all objects are lost anyway, and we probably won't care how many of them were alive when the process terminated.

Here is another example:

$DNS_CACHE{$dns} ||= dns_resolve($dns);
print "Hostname $dns has $DNS_CACHE{$dns} IP\n";

This little code snippet takes the hostname stored in $dns and checks whether we have the corresponding IP address cached in %DNS_CACHE. If not, it resolves it and caches it for later reuse. At the end, it prints out both the hostname and the corresponding IP address.

17.1.2. In-Memory Databases Across Multiple Processes

Sharing results is more efficient than having each child potentially waste a lot of time generating redundant data. On the other hand, the information may not be important enough, or have sufficient long-term value, to merit being stored on disk. In this scenario, Inter-Process Communication (IPC) is a useful tool to have around.