Re: [GSoC] (Is it OK to choose items without % mark in theToDoList) && (is it an acceptable idea to build index on Flash Disk)

mx wrote:
> Hello,Everyone!
> I'm a student in China. and I'm preparing for GSocC2008 in these days.
> There are two questions about GSoC.
> 
> 1. There's a paragraph about the Example Proposal Ideas in PostgreSQL Summer
> Projects website.
> 
> *TODO Items*: A number of the items on our TODO list have been marked as
>> good projects for beginners who are new to the PostgreSQL code. Items on
>> this list have the advantage of already having general community agreement
>> that the feature is desireable. These items should also have some general
>> discussion available in the mailing list archives to help get you started.
>> *You can find these items on the TODO<http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faqs.TODO.html>list, they will be marked with a
percentsign (%)
 
>> *.
>>
> 
> I didn't get attention to this paragraph before, so I choose some items
> without % in the List.
> *Is it OK?*

Yes, absolutely. The '%' sign is just a hint that those items are easier 
than others, and therefore good items to pick up as a beginner.

>  By the way, I'm writing proposal for multi-column hash now.

The biggest problem with the hash index is currently that there's no 
significant performance over b-tree. If you want to work on hash 
indexes, I would suggest doing benchmarking and looking at ways to 
improve performance, before spending time on making it multi-column 
capable. And missing WAL logging is a big issue as well.

> 2. I'm currently in my fourth year of  studies. And I'm in a lab  doing
> database research.
> My thesis work is about B-Tree index in NAND Flash Disk. I want to do it
> based on PostgreSQL..
> I know embedded server is the feature that postgreSQL don't want. But flash
> Disk is developing very fast. It's a trend that Flash Disk will replace
> magnetic disk one day just like what Jim Gray said "Tape is dead, disk is
> tape, flash is disk",  though  nowadays flash  device is only widely used in
> embedded devices.
> *So, how about a project idea on NAND Flash disk  without limited-resource
> environments?*
> *Is it an acceptable idea?*

Maybe, hard to tell without more details. What difference does it make 
if the b-tree is on a flash device, as opposed to disk? What's different 
in general when you run on a flash disk?

The "embedded server" idea in the "not wanted" list refers to the idea 
of running PostgreSQL in the same process as the client. If I understood 
you correctly, you're proposing something quite different.

--   Heikki Linnakangas  EnterpriseDB   http://www.enterprisedb.com