The Perfect Dependency - SQLite Case Study

SQLite is a side project that became the most deployed piece of software ever. Estimated to have more than 1 trillion deployments. It is a great example of how far simple software can go.

Timestamps:
0:00 - The scale of SQLite
0:54 - Origin Story
3:20 - Dependencies
6:59 - Features
8:47 - Backwards Compatibility
9:49 - Simplicity
10:28 - Testing
14:35 - Current Development
15:40 - Licensing & Monetisation
17:10 - Fossil
18:03 - Tinker
18:33 - Summary

Resources:

[Trezker]

"Adding a feature takes an hour, then we spend weeks testing it" That's very different from the industry standard of taking months to implement a feature and not test it at all.

[lifelover]

Came to learn about databases, got a life philosophy lesson. win-win.
Thanks for the video. I hope Richard's mindset inspires younger programmers.

[RaaynML]

This guy not only built his own shed but also cut his own lumber, dug his own foundation, and forged the tools to build it

[PanduPoluan]

12:14 I love how humble the PostgreSQL people are. "Um, maybe you're not trying hard enough to make postgres fail?"

[viktorcriterion]

This is an excellent video! It’s truly fascinating to reflect on how much of modern society is built upon the contributions of unique individuals. For instance, FFmpeg is another critical dependency, but it embodies a philosophy entirely opposite to that of SQLite. Exploring their contrasting approaches from a software philosophy perspective would make for an intriguing comparison.

[violetsweet]

I was just thinking about how load-bearing sqlite is compared to its size the other day. It's hard not to be overawed a bit by the technology!

[chiffaonosu]

I like how even with an insanely thorough test harness SQLite has some bugs simply because of history reasons. Kinda shows that sometimes things squeak through and stay in the system because of backwards compatibility

[PanduPoluan]

SQLite is so lightweight, both in terms of LOC and dependencies (ZERO), that it becomes part of Python's stdlib. That's one reason (among many) why Python is so popular: Out of the box it has an honest-to-goodness relational database suitable for rapid development. And when the time comes to rely on external databases, it's a relatively painless process to replace.

[ShodanR]

Thank you. I've been looking for a documentary on Sqlite for a while and this was great.

[nodrance]

This is a perfect example of doing doing one thing very, very, very well.

[MightyMoud]

Man you deserve a lot more subs. Big fan here. Keep it up

[chillphil]

cool video topic. funny graphics. i dig the original audio cut ins

[hyperpug]

No dependencies? That's like a opposite of a typical JS project!

[alpheusmadsen]

Several years ago, I stopped working on a personal project in part because it had a bug I could not trace. I didn't know about Test Driven Development at the time, so there were no tests -- but as much as I can't do test "driven" development, and as boring as I find testing sometimes, this project is something I always think about when I'm tempted to skip writing a test.

If anything, I agree that 100% test coverage is ridiculous: I think it's too small of a number, rather than too large, though! There will always be tests that cover the same code (at least for now) but do different things!

[philiphart]

Hugely interesting and enlightening video. I learned a lot about something which I considered rather mundane. Many thanks for putting it together. And many thanks to Richard for his vision and persistence.

[FobosLee]

Exactly! Library works perfectly 99% of time, and then 1% brings 99% of problems and pain

[busyfreeguy]

I love this format. Well done. This is a great resource.

[rogerdeutsch]

Fantastically informative and interesting video with proper attribution to source material. Subscribed!

[victorjre]

SQLite is just like one of those local databases back in the 80s and 90s. DBase, Clipper, FoxPro. It's cool because it's modern technology, but at the same time it's an ancient idea.

[cariyaputta]

The full text search ft5 extension is amazing, say goodbye to the bloated elastic search.