mysql?

Maybe it's a silly question, but I'd like to explore all options. Can we use mysql?

Sure. You will just need to make sure it is simple enough for me to plug in username, password, and database. Also, you will need to provide a table schema..

sweet

Wouldn't the answer actually be no, because SQL isn't one of the languages allowed?

The question is mute at this point because I did not receive a submission that utilized mysql ;)

Hehe, I wasn't trying to get anyone disqualified

But, for future reference, is the official answer still yes?

I'd vote for no, because if you think about it, using JavaScript is exactly the same thing - you output code in some other language to some external program, that executes it...

I won't say no or yes.

But, in the future I will be more specfic about that subject in the code guidelines....

I vote no too.

If the purpose is to read existing data as fast as possible, then mysql is not the correct choice. dba is much faster and require no extra setup. Just include a file.

I benchmarked dba/gdbm against mysql a year ago. gdbm was 10 times faster than mysql (fast MyISAM table type).

This contest had a memory limit of 32 Mb. If mysql is allowed, this limit can be circumvented with mysql's HEAP table type. HEAP tables are stored in memory only and perish when mysql die. They are supposed to be quite fast. They are probably faster and more space effient than PHP. A 25 Mb HEAP might be equal to a 100 Mb PHP array...

SQL is indeed another language.

And if mysql is allowed, the two real open source databases should be allowed as well: Interbase and PostgreSQL...