If you want to make a fast and reliable Android application, its important to think about every aspect of development. One of the first things you will need to figure out is how to exactly store and search for large amounts of data. Normally, developers would use SQLite for this purpose. However, there is an alternative to the traditional Android database. Its called Realm. In this article, we are going to make a Realm vs SQLite comparison dwelling on the Realm advantages and explain why we consider it a good choice.
SQLite
SQLite is an open-source database that comes integrated in the latest Android versions by default. For interaction with the OS, SQLite uses the SQLiteDatabase and the SQLiteOpenHelper Java interfaces. The programming interface is fairly simple and user-friendly since it is written in pure ANSI-C. In terms of size, SQLite is relatively portable: you can store the whole database in one disk file. At the same time, implementing standard mechanisms to manage SQLite is hardly a trivial procedure as you need to manually write tons of code. Because of that, developers have to use various libraries and ORM add-ons.
Realm
Realm was designed to be faster and more efficient than the previous database solutions. This new solution is a cross-platform mobile database. Its available in Objective-C and Swift, and its designed for both iOS and Android. Being a fully-fledged cross-platform mobile database, Realm was created to become the ultimate solution for storing data: both performance and efficiency-wise. What really sets it apart is that you can handle all the work with a couple of lines of code. Realm is very easy to install and more responsive compared to SQLite alternatives like ORMLite or Greendao.
Realm pros
- The ease of integration and the ease of use.Realm comes with great documentation and requires almost no effort to get started.
- Cross Platform:Realm database files are cross platform and can be shared among iOS and Android. Regardless if you work with Java, Objective-C, or Swift, you will use your high-level models.
- Its a trusted product.Realm has proven itself as a reliable solution for banking and enterprise applications, healthcare providers and even top rated applications like Starbucks.
- Its fully open-source,which means no fee or paid subscription is required. Its FREE!
- Scalable:Realm is ready for scalability and works with large data volumes easily. You will bring speed and stability to your app by using Realm as your database provider.
Conclusions
The Realm database is a good choice if you need really fast and easy to use solution for storing and processing data in a mobile application. Implementing a database now takes a lot less time than it used to with SQLite. Of course, some aspects could be improved upon but thats another story.
Source:https://expertise.jetruby.com/