Re: PostgreSQL port to pure Java?

Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> writes:
> Frank Wiles wrote:
>> Not to mention it would kill PostgreSQL's current speedy
>> performance!

> Maybe, maybe not. Modern JVMs have much better performance
> characteristics than was once the case. Also, some of the things
> that Java buys you (memory management, threading, for example) might
> actually enhance performance in some circumstances.

I'm pretty skeptical that Java's GC could get better performance than
palloc. As for threading, ISTM Java doesn't offer anything we couldn't
get through POSIX threads if we were going to contemplate a full-scale
rewrite anyway (which I think everyone agrees that we aren't).

> As a Java programmer, I do agree that having a pure Java RDBMS
> system would be a Good Thing (tm)

Are there any advantages that this would provide that we could get
without investing so much effort? For example, PL/Java seems like a
reasonable approach to Java & PG integration that doesn't involve
rewriting hundreds of thousands of lines of code.

-Neil

P.S. While we're contemplating pies-in-the-sky, I'd personally love to
rewrite PostgreSQL in Objective Caml.