# Ruby and RDBS **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [July 23, 2008, 6:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-rdbs/143841 "2008-07-23T06:51:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ti-mara)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 6:51am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-rdbs/143841/1 "2008-07-23T06:51:34Z")
This may seem like a very newb question. BUt are there any groups or projects dealing with using ruby and RDBMS, to do data mining and data analysis? I’m trying to learn ruby and want to am into database and data mining development and am curious if I could combine both together cheers Thilankka ---
**Author:** ![ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ti-mara)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-rdbs/143841/2 "2008-07-23T07:03:52Z")
On Tuesday 22 July 2008 23:45:15 Thilanka M. wrote: > I’m trying to learn ruby and want to am into database and data mining > development and am curious if I could combine both together The Rails community seems to want to avoid writing any SQL at all, and would rather work with document databases (things like ThruDB, SimpleDB, and BigTable). That said… Yes, absolutely, depending on the database. Ruby has adapters for most major database engines. You’re probably going to want to learn some SQL… A quick Google for “ruby database mining” shows something called Ruminate, but I can’t find any active development lately – so if you’re looking for a prebuilt solution, you’re probably on your own. ---
**Author:** ![ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ti-mara)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 7:13am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-rdbs/143841/3 "2008-07-23T07:13:49Z")
oh thanks… Maybe I should hav a look at these document databases as well ---
**Author:** ![ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ti-mara)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 9:00am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-rdbs/143841/4 "2008-07-23T09:00:18Z")
2008/7/23 Thilanka M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid): > This may seem like a very newb question. BUt are there any groups or > projects dealing with using ruby and RDBMS, to do data mining and data > analysis? Sequel ([http://sequel.rubyforge.org/](http://sequel.rubyforge.org/)) would suit you well. It’s a nice Ruby like interface to a number of different databases and can act as a plan Ruby → SQL interface or use an Object Relational Mapping. Farrel ---
**Author:** ![ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ti-mara)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-rdbs/143841/5 "2008-07-23T15:11:40Z")
On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 12:56 AM, David M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > On Tuesday 22 July 2008 23:45:15 Thilanka M. wrote: > > > I’m trying to learn ruby and want to am into database and data mining > > development and am curious if I could combine both together > > The Rails community seems to want to avoid writing any SQL at all, and would > rather work with document databases (things like ThruDB, SimpleDB, and > BigTable). Eh? ActiveRecord is tightly tied to SQL. The fact that it provides an interface that attempts to minimize the use of SQL doesn’t change the fact that underneath it all is heaps and heaps of SQL that is generated. Additionally BigTable and SimpleDB are not document databases. Sincerely, Anthony E. ---
**Author:** ![ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ti-mara)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-rdbs/143841/6 "2008-07-23T16:37:28Z")
On Jul 22, 2008, at 11:56 PM, David M. wrote: > On Tuesday 22 July 2008 23:45:15 Thilanka M. wrote: > > > I’m trying to learn ruby and want to am into database and data mining > > development and am curious if I could combine both together > > The Rails community seems to want to avoid writing any SQL at all, > and would > rather work with document databases (things like ThruDB, SimpleDB, and > BigTable). I hear comments like this a lot, but I don’t really understand where they are coming from. ActiveRecord, the ORM layer of Rails, is capable of dropping down to whatever level of SQL you need. Many of the features added to it over time have been to use SQL more heavily for various advantages. Take “Eager Loading,” for example. I program in Rails all day every day and if you removed all the SQL I use, I would be much worse at it. James Edward G. II ---
**Author:** ![ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ti-mara)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 6:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-rdbs/143841/7 "2008-07-26T06:37:58Z")
On Wednesday 23 July 2008 08:02:37 Anthony E. wrote: > On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 12:56 AM, David M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > On Tuesday 22 July 2008 23:45:15 Thilanka M. wrote: > > > > > I’m trying to learn ruby and want to am into database and data mining > > > development and am curious if I could combine both together > > > > The Rails community seems to want to avoid writing any SQL at all, and > > would > > rather work with document databases (things like ThruDB, SimpleDB, and > > BigTable). > > Eh? ActiveRecord is tightly tied to SQL. Yes… Maybe I was being too bold. However, ActiveRecord seems to be written from the perspective of hiding SQL from the user. It’s there if you need it, but for a lot of the concepts, it’s an implementation detail. The structure of STI and polymorphism in Rails suggests that there might at least be SQL-like databases targeting ActiveRecord in the future. > Additionally BigTable and SimpleDB are not document > databases. They do seem to follow the same idea, though, and BigTable is certainly used like one. My point was that at least some parts of the community seem to embrace the idea of a document database as a way to scale. And yes, it requires replacing ActiveRecord – but ActionPack should still be useful. ---
**Author:** ![ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@ti-mara](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ti-mara)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-and-rdbs/143841/8 "2008-07-23T15:15:49Z")
On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 12:45 AM, Thilanka M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > This may seem like a very newb question. BUt are there any groups or > projects dealing with using ruby and RDBMS, to do data mining and data > analysis? Data mining and data analysis are pretty broad and can be accomplished with a variety of techniques. Perhaps you can narrow it down a little bit? For example, if you are looking to use dimensional modeling for data warehousing and analysis then you might want to take a look at ActiveWarehouse. For data mining you might want to consider search with something like Solr or Sphinx and distributed techniques such as map/reduce. What you will use depends largely on the amount of data you are trying to analyze and the resources available to you. Sincerely, Anthony E.