I have a mysql database with a variety of different tables with some storing 100k+ rows. I wanted a language that would allow me to read quickly from the database, allowing me to collate data from various different tables and store them into local objects/data structures. I would then do most of the complex processing locally, which I would also like to be optimized for.
This is mainly for an analysis project of data that is cleared out every day. Some friends recommended Ruby or Python, but not knowing either, I wanted a second opinion before I took the leap.
Part of the problem here is the latency between the db and your application-tier code. Ping the DB server from where you intend to query the database from. Double that and that’s your turnaround time for every operation. If you can live with that time, then you’re OK. But you might be better off writing your manipulations in sprocs or something that lives close to the DB and use your application code to make that presentable to a user.