Andl can now use Sqlite as a backend database. In other words, the entire language, type system and relational operations now work on a native SQLite database.
The language supported is identical to the in-memory version already released. The type system, expression evaluation and relational algebra are identical. There are no (known or intended) incompatibilities or restrictions, other than as below. The performance is reasonable (considering the stage of development), but a couple of areas need some work.
All relation and attribute types are supported, including DEE and DUM (relations with no attributes), Relation Valued Attributes, Tuple Valued Attributes, User Defined Types and arbitrary aggregation using FOLD(). There is one area not yet implemented due to challenges in the platform/SQL, and that is Ordered Aggregation (grouping). It’s just plain hard!
The implementation now also contains a Catalog, which stores compiled functions, user-defined types, application variables of all types and links to database relvars. Any program can create its own new catalog, import an existing one, and/or save its changes. The database can be local, by persisting the in-memory relvars to a folder, or it can be SQLite.
For those interested, the strategy is a mix of SQL generation and a runtime Virtual Machine. The implementation strategy contains only a modest amount of Sqlite specific code. The exact same method should work with any of the main RDBMS. I would plan to tackle Postgres next (requires Java Interop), and then perhaps SQL Server.
A release is available now from the Downloads page.
The new language Julia needs a SQLite interface and could probably use ANDL as well.
http://julialang.org/
Given that Julia has an advanced type system and metaprogramming, you could probably implement a language equivalent to Andl in Julia itself. You could hook it into SQLite is the same way I have, with a mixture of SQL generation and runtime VM.
Assuming that’s not what you had in mind, you’ll have to wait until I’ve completed Phase III, which is the cross-platform Andl API. I guarantee Julia will be able to call that, with minimal effort.