InterBase

InterBase is a light-weight, embeddable, cross-platform Relational Database Management System. InterBase is characterized by its small footprint, minimal administration and built-in data security control.

History

InterBase was originally developed by Jim Starkey in 1984 as a RDBMS utilizing multi-generational architecture. InterBase was acquired by Borland Inc. in 1991. In 2000, an open-source DBMS called FireBird was forked from InterBase. In 2008, InterBase, along with other development tools, are purchased by Embarcadero Technologies, Inc.

Indexes

B+Tree

InterBase uses a variant of B-tree for index structure. Indices are automatically created for PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY and UNIQUE columns.

Joins

Nested Loop Join Sort-Merge Join

InterBase uses an optimizer to estimate costs of different joining orders and to generate data retrieval plan. Merge-Sort Join and Nested Loop Join are supported. InterBase also allows users to specify customized plan by using PLAN clause.

Data Model

Relational

InterBase is a relational database management system (RDBMS) and it complies with SQL-92 standard.

Isolation Levels

Read Committed Snapshot Isolation

Three isolation levels are supported: SNAPSHOT, SNAPSHOT TABLE STABILITY, READ COMMITTED.

System Architecture

Shared-Everything Embedded

InterBase can be used as a server which adopts Shared-Everything architecture, or as an embedded library.

Concurrency Control

Multi-version Concurrency Control (MVCC)

InterBase is the first DBMS that implements Multi-Version Concurrency Control (MVCC). MVCC is referred to as Multi-Generational Architecture in InterBase.

Compression

Run-Length Encoding Prefix Compression

The DBMS only supports prefix and suffix compression for index keys.

Views

Virtual Views

InterBase supports virtual views. Views are not materialized. InterBase also supports Change View which enables data change tracking.

Foreign Keys

Supported

InterBase supports foreign keys and creates indices for foreign keys by default. Referential integrity is enforced for foreign keys.

InterBase Logo
Website

http://www.embarcadero.com/products/interbase

Developer

Embarcadero Technologies, Inc.

Country of Origin

US

Start Year

1984

Former Name

Groton Database Systems, Yaffil

Acquired By

Ashton-Tate, Borland

Project Type

Commercial

Written in

C

Supported languages

C, C++, Delphi, PHP, Ruby

Operating Systems

Android, iOS, Linux, OS X, Solaris, Windows

Licenses

Proprietary

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterBase