DBMS > 4D vs. Adabas vs. Datomic vs. Lovefield vs. Oracle

System Properties Comparison 4D vs. Adabas vs. Datomic vs. Lovefield vs. Oracle

Editorial information provided by DB-Engines

Name

Description

Application development environment with integrated database management system

OLTP - DBMS for mainframes and Linux/Unix/Windows environments

used typically together with the Natural programming platform

Datomic builds on immutable values, supports point-in-time queries and uses 3rd party systems for durability

Embeddable relational database for web apps written in pure JavaScript

Widely used RDBMS

Primary database model

Relational DBMS

Multivalue DBMS

Relational DBMS

Secondary database models

Document store
Graph DBMS

with Oracle Spatial and Graph
RDF store

with Oracle Spatial and Graph
Spatial DBMS

with Oracle Spatial and Graph
Vector DBMS

since Oracle 23

DB-Engines Ranking measures the popularity of database management systems
Trend Chart

Score	2.58
Rank	#108	Overall
	#54	Relational DBMS

Score	3.17
Rank	#94	Overall
	#1	Multivalue DBMS

Score	1.59
Rank	#150	Overall
	#69	Relational DBMS

Score	0.29
Rank	#293	Overall
	#133	Relational DBMS

Score	1236.29
Rank	#1	Overall
	#1	Relational DBMS

Website

www.4d.com

www.softwareag.com/en_corporate/platform/adabas-natural.html

www.datomic.com

google.github.io/lovefield

www.oracle.com/database

Technical documentation

developer.4d.com

docs.datomic.com

github.com/google/lovefield/blob/master/docs/spec_index.md

docs.oracle.com/en/database

Developer

4D, Inc

Software AG

Cognitect

Google

Oracle

Initial release

1984

1971

2012

2014

1980

Current release

v20, April 2023

1.0.6735, June 2023

2.1.12, February 2017

23c, September 2023

License

Commercial or Open Source

commercial

limited edition free

Open Source

Apache 2.0

commercial

restricted free version is available

Cloud-based only

Only available as a cloud service

DBaaS offerings (sponsored links)

Database as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.

Implementation language

Java, Clojure

JavaScript

C and C++

Server operating systems

OS X
Windows

BS2000
Linux
Unix
Windows
z/OS
z/VSE

All OS with a Java VM

server-less, requires a JavaScript environment (browser, Node.js)

tested with Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari

AIX
HP-UX
Linux
OS X
Solaris
Windows
z/OS

Data scheme

yes

Schemaless in JSON and XML columns

Typing

predefined data types such as float or date

yes

XML support

Some form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT.

yes

Secondary indexes

yes

SQL

Support of SQL

yes

close to SQL 92

yes

with add-on product Adabas SQL Gateway

SQL-like query language

via JavaScript builder pattern

yes

with proprietary extensions

APIs and other access methods

ODBC
RESTful HTTP API

by using 4D Mobile
SOAP webservices

HTTP API

with add-on software Adabas SOA Gateway
SOAP-based API

with add-on software Adabas SOA Gateway

RESTful HTTP API

JDBC
ODBC
ODP.NET
Oracle Call Interface (OCI)

Supported programming languages

4D proprietary IDE
PHP

Natural

Clojure
Java

JavaScript

C
C#
C++
Clojure
Cobol
Delphi
Eiffel
Erlang
Fortran
Groovy
Haskell
Java
JavaScript
Lisp
Objective C
OCaml
Perl
PHP
Python
R
Ruby
Scala
Tcl
Visual Basic

Server-side scripts

Stored procedures

yes

in Natural

yes

Transaction Functions

PL/SQL

also stored procedures in Java possible

Triggers

yes

By using transaction functions

Using read-only observers

yes

Partitioning methods

Methods for storing different data on different nodes

none

yes, with additonal products like Adabas Cluster Services, Adabas Parallel Services, Adabas Vista

none

But extensive use of caching in the application peers

none

Sharding, horizontal partitioning

Replication methods

Methods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodes

Multi-source replication

yes, with add-on product Event Replicator

none

But extensive use of caching in the application peers

none

Multi-source replication
Source-replica replication

MapReduce

Offers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methods

can be realized in PL/SQL

Consistency concepts

Methods to ensure consistency in a distributed system

Immediate Consistency

Foreign keys

Referential integrity

yes

Transaction concepts

Support to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of data

ACID

isolation level can be parameterized

Concurrency

Support for concurrent manipulation of data

yes

Durability

Support for making data persistent

yes

using external storage systems (e.g. Cassandra, DynamoDB, PostgreSQL, Couchbase and others)

yes, by using IndexedDB or the cloud service Firebase Realtime Database

yes

In-memory capabilities

Is there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.

yes

recommended only for testing and development

yes

using MemoryDB

yes

Version 12c introduced the new option 'Oracle Database In-Memory'

User concepts

Access control

Users and groups

only with OS-specific tools (e.g. IBM RACF, CA Top Secret)

fine grained access rights according to SQL-standard

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