[announce] Zorba: an XQuery processor, first release (0.9)

[daniela florescu]

Fabrice,

not only there are two C++ XQuery engines with Apache licence (Zorba  
and XQuilla), but we do work
  together with the XQuilla team and make sure we have a common C/C++  
Api, such that users can switch
between them.

I guess that at this point they are not that different. But they might  
evolve very differently in the future.

It is probably premature to answer your question of how to use each  
one for which task.
XQuery is just a baby technology at this point, users requests are not  
crystalized yet,
  it is very hard to predict how the implementations will evolve.

I would say: stay tuned and watch the space :-)

Here are some examples of projects that we work on in the Zorba team  
right now:
- integrating XQuery in the browsers (replace javascript with Xquery)
- the eclipse plugin editor and debugger
- a version of Zorba that will run on mobile phones
- various backend stores, persistent or not

Performance might or might not be a differentiator, it is hard to  
predict. I can tell right now
that this first release of Zorba performs  worse then XQuilla, but we  
expect this to change in the next 3-4 months.
This version of Zorba is just not optimized for performance (it's  
missing classical rewriting rules, only nested
loops, no indexes, some synchronization perf. problems, etc, etc).  
Performance will be the focus
of our next 6 months.

But it is hard to predict how good/bad they will compare in the  
future. Both engines are evolving and
improving rapidly right now.

But bottom line is: I think the competition is welcome, it makes the  
market stronger, and I hope will
give users more confidence to embark on the XQuery route.

And also, honestly, it makes our engineering challenges more fun ! :-)

Best regards
Dana







On May 13, 2008, at 1:41 AM, Fabrice Desré - France Telecom DR&D/MAPS/ 
AMS wrote:

> Hello Daniela,
>
> Good news to see a zorba release !
>
> Now there are two C++ based XQuery processors (Zorba and XQilla).  
> From their description they seem to be quite similar in scope and  
> goals. Can you give some information on how different they are in  
> order to choose the one most appropriate for a given task ?
>
> Thanks,
>
> 	Fabrice
> -- 
> Fabrice Desré
> France Télécom R&D/MAPS/AMS
> Tél: +(33) (0)2 96 05 31 43
> Fax: +(33) (0)2 96 05 39 45
> http://www.francetelecom.com/rd