Skip to Content
Using SQLite
book

Using SQLite

by Jay A. Kreibich
August 2010
Intermediate to advanced
526 pages
23h 39m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Using SQLite

Chapter 1. What Is SQLite?

In the simplest terms, SQLite is a public-domain software package that provides a relational database management system, or RDBMS. Relational database systems are used to store user-defined records in large tables. In addition to data storage and management, a database engine can process complex query commands that combine data from multiple tables to generate reports and data summaries. Other popular RDBMS products include Oracle Database, IBM’s DB2, and Microsoft’s SQL Server on the commercial side, with MySQL and PostgreSQL being popular open source products.

The “Lite” in SQLite does not refer to its capabilities. Rather, SQLite is lightweight when it comes to setup complexity, administrative overhead, and resource usage. SQLite is defined by the following features:

Serverless

SQLite does not require a separate server process or system to operate. The SQLite library accesses its storage files directly.

Zero Configuration

No server means no setup. Creating an SQLite database instance is as easy as opening a file.

Cross-Platform

The entire database instance resides in a single cross-platform file, requiring no administration.

Self-Contained

A single library contains the entire database system, which integrates directly into a host application.

Small Runtime Footprint

The default build is less than a megabyte of code and requires only a few megabytes of memory. With some adjustments, both the library size and memory use can be significantly reduced.

Transactional ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Creating a Database with SQLite

Creating a Database with SQLite

Allen Taylor
Practical SQL

Practical SQL

Anthony DeBarros

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781449394592Errata Page