SQLite Has Been Ported to .NET

Posted by Abel Avram on Aug 06, 2009

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SQLite

Noah Hart has ported SQLite3 to C#. While the first port is slower than the original, the project opens the way for SQLite to be used in .NET managed projects without using P/Invoke or unsafe code.

The project, C#-SQLite, is hosted on Google Code and represents the complete porting of SQLite version 3.6.16 to C#, the code being licensed under the Creative Commons 3.0. C#-SQLite passes over 30,000 tests with only 9 still not working. The compiled binary exe is 528KB which is about the same as the original at 506KB. The performance is behind the original native C implementation, but Hart says that he made no attempt to optimize the code yet, and considers the performance as acceptable. All numbers represent Rows/second:

Test	C#-SQLite	SQLite
Insert	300K	1300K
Select	1500K	8450K
Update	60K	300K
Delete	250K	700K

Cory Nelson explains why an SQLite port is better than using other approaches: avoiding P/Invoke which “can be pretty slow and is not portable”. Another reason is that the C code uses “goto all over the place, which probably hampers optimization as opposed to exceptions.”

Many products, including Adobe AIR, contain and use SQLite. Probably the best use of C#-SQLite is for Silverlight projects, as Tim Anderson points out:

Others are hopeful for a local database manager for Microsoft Silverlight, writing to isolated storage.

… Silverlight does not allow platform invoke or code marked as unsafe; and while there are apparently only a few p/invoke calls I’m guessing there may be many unsafe sections since the original SQLite makes heavy use of pointers.

Although Silverlight is an implementation of the .NET Framework, it does not include the System.Data namespace. It does include System.Linq.

C#-SQLite is not an official version of SQLite, Hart not being affiliated with SQLite.org. Richard Hipp, the creator of SQLite and owner of its trademark, did not accept ”SQLite” to be included in the name of this port, but later agreed with C#-SQLite.

There are other managed databases, some of them being: Perst, db4o, Silverlight Database, System.Data.SQLite.

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   What is the difference between csharp-sqlite and sql#

   by Mark Nijhof

   Hi,
   
   What is the difference between SQL# code.google.com/p/sqlsharp/ and csharp-sqlite code.google.com/p/csharp-sqlite/ all I can see is a diff name and license?
   
   -Mark

   Reply

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   Re: What is the difference between csharp-sqlite and sql#

   by Srikanth Remani

   Both seem to be similar or same, C#-SqlLite seems to be more complete than SqlSharp.

   Reply

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   How does this compare to System.Data.SQLite and Mono's implementation?

   by Bret Ferrier

   If you are wanting to use SQLite with a .Net project most people use System.Data.SQLite or the Mono version which I believe is Mono.Data.SQLite. What does this project offer that the two previously mentioned don't?

   Reply

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   Re: What is the difference between csharp-sqlite and sql#

   by Abel Avram

   They are the same, but I believe one of them is in the process of being closed. Initially there was another project on Google code, which is closed right now and not available, and Hart started another, SQLSharp. Then, R. Hipp agreed with using the name C#-SQLite, and Hart started yet another project for that.

   Reply

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   Re: How does this compare to System.Data.SQLite and Mono's implementation?

   by Abel Avram

   Previous SQLite projects for .NET represent SQLite wrappers/providers not pure managed code. They still take the P/Invoke penalty. This one is pure C# code, a line for line porting of SQLite/C. This can be used for Silverlight projects which have tighter security constraints.

   Reply

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