Comparing the Three Approaches

Comparing the Three Approaches

In this section, we briefly compare the three approaches for database programming and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

Embedded SQL Approach. The main advantage of this approach is that the query text is part of the program source code itself, and hence can be checked for syntax errors and validated against the database schema at com-pile time. This also makes the program quite readable, as the queries are readily visible in the source code. The main disadvantages are the loss of flexibility in changing the query at runtime, and the fact that all changes to queries must go through the whole recompilation process. In addition, because the queries are known beforehand, the choice of program variables to hold the query results is a simple task, and so the programming of the application is generally easier. However, for complex applications where queries have to be generated at runtime, the function call approach will be more suitable.

        Library of Function Calls Approach. This approach provides more flexibility in that queries can be generated at runtime if needed. However, this leads to more complex programming, as program variables that match the columns in the query result may not be known in advance. Because queries are passed as statement strings within the function calls, no checking can be done at compile time. All syntax checking and query validation has to be done at runtime, and the programmer must check and account for possible additional runtime errors within the program code.

        Database Programming Language Approach. This approach does not suffer from the impedance mismatch problem, as the programming language data types are the same as the database data types. However, programmers must learn a new programming language rather than use a language they are already familiar with. In addition, some database programming languages are vendor-specific, whereas general-purpose programming languages can easily work with systems from multiple vendors.