SQLite Database

Introduction

• SQLite is a database engine written in the C programming language.
• D. Richard Hipp designed SQLite to fulfill the purpose of ‘no administration required’ for operating a program.
• The first release date -17 August 2000.
• Website is – https://www.sqlite.org.

Definition

• SQLite is a lightweight and compact database that does not require any kind of server to run.
• SQLite is a serverless database management system, that does not require a separate server process to be running and can be embedded directly into an application.

Characteristics

• It has an in-memory library that we can call and use directly without installation or configuration.
• SQLite is very small and lightweight, with less than 400KiB fully configured or less than 250KiB with optional features omitted.
• It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. Hence it is called the family of embedded databases.
• There are many libraries and classes available on Android to perform any kind of database queue on SQLite.
• SQLite stores the whole database (definitions, tables, indices, and the data itself) as a single cross-platform file on a host machine, allowing several processes or threads to access the same database concurrently.
• SQLite is suitable for smaller databases.
• SQLite is only for local, embedded RDBMS databases.
• To access databases on the network we need to use whatever API is offered, such as a web service API used over HTTP(S).
• An SQLite database is normally stored in a single ordinary disk file. However, in certain circumstances, the database might be stored in memory. 
• SQLite uses PostgreSQL as a reference platform hence it generally follows PostgreSQL syntax.
• SQLite does not enforce type-checking the type of a value is dynamic and not strictly constrained by the schema.
• SQLite packages the entire database into a single file. 
• SQLite is an offline database that is locally stored in the user’s device and we do not have to create any connection to connect to this database

Advantages

• It is very simple with an easy-to-use API.
• SQLite itself is fast.
• SQLite has higher performance.
• SQLite comes with zero configuration, i.e. no setup or administration required.
• SQLite is self-contained, i.e. no external dependencies.
• SQLite is an open-source database and hence its codes are available in the public domain and are free to everyone to use for any purpose.
• It is easily integrated into any kind of mobile application.

Disadvantage

• One of the main drawbacks of the SQLite system is its lack of multi-user capabilities which can be found in full-fledged RDBMS systems.

Use

• It is the most widely deployed database engine and is used by several of the top web browsers(Chrome, Safari, Opera, Android Browsers, etc), operating systems(Android, iOS, BlackBerry, MAC OS, Windows 10 OS, Symbian OS, Solaris, Fedora & Red Hat Linux OS, etc ), mobile phones, Middlewares (ADO.NET, ODBC, COM[ActiveX]), Web Applications Frameworks (Symfony, Laravel, Django’s, Drupal, Ruby on Rails, ) and other embedded systems(Adobe systems, Audacity, Skype, Flame – a malware, TomTom – a GPS system etc. ).
• Many programming languages(Java, Python, Php, Perl, etc.) have bindings to the SQLite library.