Article
· Feb 8, 2022 1m read
GlobalToJSON-embeddedPython-pure

I have created a package to export a Global into JSON object file and to re-create it by reloading from this file
embeddedPython refers to the new available technologies. It should be understood as a learning exercise of
how to handle the language interfaces. Only Global nodes containing data are presented in the generated JSON file.
Differently from the previous example, this one is using embedded Python only, no ObjectScript. Therefore PURE

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Article
· Feb 7, 2022 1m read
GlobalToJSON-embeddedPython

I have created a package to export a Global into JSON object file and to re-create it by reloading from this file
embeddedPython refers to the new available technologies. It should be understood as a learning exercise of
how to handle the language interfaces. Only Global nodes containing data are presented in the generated JSON file.

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Article
· Jan 24, 2022 1m read
GlobalToJSON-Academic

I have created a package that offers a utility to load a Global into JSON object and reverse
to create a Global from this type of JSON object. Academic refers to the structure created.
Each logical node of the Global is presented separately with all its descendants.
Even if they don't contain any stored data.

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For some years I missed being able to offer, to everybody interested in ObjectScript, a tutorial more or less complete, to start with ObjectScript. Something that could help more and make things easier to those new developers that come to our technology... something intermediate, halfway between the common "Hello World!", that doesn't really get you further, and the "Advanced Training", that is unaffordable because of lack of time,etc.

If there were something truly helpful not only as an introduction to the ecosystem, but as a starting point, as a boost, to really start to walk into ObjectScript and move forward by yourself... wouldn't that be awesome?

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Article
· Dec 20, 2021 1m read
Holiday Reading: What Lies Beneath!

For those of you who might be new to IRIS, and even those who have used Cache or IRIS for some time but want to explore beyond its usually-assumed boundaries and practices, you might want to dive into this detailed exploration of the database engine that is at its heart, and discover just what you can really do with it, going way beyond what InterSystems have done with it for you.

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Making a blog using Python + IRIS Globals

Since I started to use internet (late 90's), I always had a CMS (content management system) present to make easier post
any information in a blog, social media or even an enterprise page. And later years putting all my code into github I
used to document it on a markdown file. Observing how easy could be persisting data into Intersystems IRIS with the
Native API I decided to make this application and force myself to forget a little of SQL and stay open to key-value database
model.

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Hi developers!

Often we need to deploy some data along with code pieces of the application.

And for InterSystems IRIS developers the question could sound: "How can I deploy the data I have in globals?"

InterSystems IRIS Globals Model QuickStart | InterSystems

Here I want to suggest to you one of the approaches - deploying global data using the ZPM package manager.

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Article
· Jun 4, 2020 2m read
CRUD-GLOBALS-IRISNATIVEAPI-JAVA

Hi All,

I am writing this article to tell about the application "CRUD-GLOBALS-IRISNATIVEAPI-JAVA" which is developed as part of "InterSystems IRIS Native API programming contest". The intention of this application is to manage the Globals which are in IRIS instance through java program using IRIS Native API. To use this application basic knowledge of CACHE Globals structure is required.

In this application as of now we have options to Create,View Globals and Data Search in Globals. Update and Delete will be added in next releases.

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A More Industrial-Looking Global Storage Scheme

In the first article in this series, we looked at the entity–attribute–value (EAV) model in relational databases, and took a look at the pros and cons of storing those entities, attributes and values in tables. We learned that, despite the benefits of this approach in terms of flexibility, there are some real disadvantages, in particular a basic mismatch between the logical structure of the data and its physical storage, which causes various difficulties.

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Introduction

In the first article in this series, we’ll take a look at the entity–attribute–value (EAV) model in relational databases to see how it’s used and what it’s good for. Then we'll compare the EAV model concepts to globals.

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Article
· Nov 11, 2019 11m read
Transactions in Global InterSystems IRIS

InterSystems IRIS supports a unique data structure, called globals, for information storage. Essentially, globals are persistent arrays with multi-level indices, having several extra capabilities—transactions, quick traversal of tree structures, and a programming language known as ObjectScript.

I'd note that for the remainder of the article, or at least the code samples, we'll assume you have familiarised yourself with the basics of globals:

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In the previous parts (1, 2) we talked about globals as trees. In this article, we will look at them as sparse arrays.

A sparse array - is a type of array where most values assume an identical value.

In practice, you will often see sparse arrays so huge that there is no point in occupying memory with identical elements. Therefore, it makes sense to organize sparse arrays in such a way that memory is not wasted on storing duplicate values.

In some programming languages, sparse arrays are part of the language - for example, in J, MATLAB. In other languages, there are special libraries that let you use them. For C++, those would be Eigen and the like.

Globals are good candidates for implementing sparse arrays for the following reasons:

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Article
· Nov 23, 2017 12m read
Where is my global stored?

It's well-known that namespace global mapping helps us to write code independent on database storage details (Caché instance name, directory path). But sometimes we can face problems accessing an unsubscripted global which has subscript level mapping (SLM) defined. Most of such cases are evident and associated with administrative tasks that should be done on database level, but some of them can confuse even an experienced developer. Just to start:

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Article
· Aug 8, 2017 1m read
Outperforming PostgreSQL and MySQL

In a previous exercise, I was able to show the power of Caché.
A medium-designed set of interdependent tables with some GB of data.
URLs cross reference over some million pages resulting in ~3 billion records

Competition was between

  • Caché
  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL

Criteria were Speed + Storage consumption
I composed a customized loader fed over a "raw" TCP connection
Mapping the "objects" into the final table by directly writing to Global Storage.,

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Globals, these magic swords for storing data, have been around for a while, but not many people can use them efficiently or know about this super-weapon altogether.

If you use globals for tasks where they truly shine, the results may be amazing, either in terms of increased performance or dramatic simplification of the overall solution (1, 2).

Globals offer a special way of storing and processing data, which is completely different from SQL tables. They were first introduced in 1966 in the M(UMPS) programming language, which was initially used in medical databases. It is still used in the same way, but has also been adopted by some other industries where reliability and high performance are top priorities: finance, trading, etc.

Later M(UMPS) evolved into Caché ObjectScript (COS). COS was developed by InterSystems as a superset of M. The original language is still accepted by developers' community and alive in a few implementations. There are several signs of activity around the web: MUMPS Google group, Mumps User's group), effective ISO Standard, etc.

Modern global based DBMS supports transactions, journaling, replication, partitioning. It means that they can be used for building modern, reliable and fast distributed systems.

Globals do not restrict you to the boundaries of the relational model. They give you the freedom of creating data structures optimized for particular tasks. For many applications reasonable use of globals can be a real silver bullet offering speeds that developers of conventional relational applications can only dream of.

Globals as a method of storing data can be used in many modern programming languages, both high- and low-level. Therefore, this article will focus specifically on globals and not the language they once came from.

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