NewBie's Corner Session 19 MUMPS verses Caché, what's the difference? 

Welcome to NewBie's Corner, a weekly or biweekly post covering basic Caché Material.

MUMPS verses Caché, what's the difference?

MUMPS was developed at Massachusetts General Hospital during the 1960s. Through a series of experiences and companies over the years eventually MUMPS evolved into Caché. Some deny this but the facts are there. You can read through the various websites with Wikipedia and make up your own mind. The closest way to explain this is that Caché is a superset of MUMPS.

MUMPS is both a programming language and a hierarchical database, that is important to remember.

It is the database concepts in MUMPS that make it unique, not necessarily the programming language. The MUMPS database has been described as multidimensional and post-relational, both are true. It is this database, or Global structure that makes MUMPS unique, and difficult to understand.

If you are a Newbie, concentrate on the MUMPS (and by extension Caché) database structure concepts. They are the most difficult to wrap your brain around.

MUMPS and Caché

So it is not MUMPS verses Caché, it is MUMPS and Caché. Caché has built in Objects which positions it for the future.
Pages can be written on MUMPS and Caché, I only hope this short piece gives a needed foundation for going forward.

--Mike Kadow
PaulMikeKadow@gmail.com
If you have a comment, please respond through the InterSystems Developer Community, don't send me private email, unless of course you wish to address me only. 

See "Newbie's Corner Index" for an index of all NewBies' Posts