I’m making a server with Java that will provide chat services for flash clients. The server will store data about each user on a .txt file somewhere on the server. For example when a user logs in, information about this user is requested to the DatabaseManger class. It will then search through the database and return the information. The point is that when allot of people log in a short amount of time the server is doing allot of checks again and again.
The idea that I want to implement is that a connection class does something like this:
String userData = DatabaseManager.getUserData(this.username);
The DatabaseManager then doesn’t search immediately, it stores this request in an array of requests, then in a fixed interval it goes through the database 1 time and returns data to the clients that requested this. This way when 15 people log in in a second it wont go through all the information 15 times. How to implement this?
You use a real DBMS like everyone else on the planet. I’m eager to hear a reason why someone wouldn’t choose a DB for this application. I can’t think of anything that would prevent it. Back in the day, RDBMS were ungainly, expensive, complicated beasts. Today, they’re as readily available as tabloids at the checkout counter.
There are few excuses to not to a DB nowadays, and arguably there are more excuses to use the DB than the file system for most any application.