Implementation of Book Organization tool (Python2.[x])

[Lie Ryan]

~km wrote:
> Hi together,
> 
> I'm a python-proficient newbie and want to tackle a program with
> Python 2.x, which basically organizes all my digital books (*.pdf,
> *.chm, etc..) and to give them specific "labels", such as:
> 
> "Author" -> string
> "Read" -> boolean
> "Last Opened:" -> string
> and so on..
> 
> Now my question is:
> 
> Is it a better method to use a /database/, a /static File/, with some
> Markup (e.g.: YAML, XML), a Python dictionary or are there better ways

In high-volume systems, it is almost always better to use a database. 
Database solves many issues with concurrent access and persistent memory.

Though many would disagree, I consider XML as a form of database though 
it is only suitable for data exchange. XML is suitable for low- to 
medium-volume purpose and when compatibility with various systems is 
extremely important (nearly any OS and any programming language has XML 
parsers; porting a DBMS system may not be as easy as that).

Python dictionary is stored in memory and closing the program == 
deleting the database. You can pickle dictionary; and this might be 
sufficient for quick and dirty, low-volume purpose. Pickled dictionary 
is the least portable solution; only python program can open a pickled 
dictionary and even different versions of python may have incompatibilities.

> I
> don't know of.., for organizing my books collection? I'm sure you can
> do
> it in any way above, but I'm apelling to /your/ personal experience
> and
> preference. Please give me at least one reason, why.

For a personal book collection where the number of books is around ~300 
books and you don't care about porting to another system, pickled 
dictionary may be just good enough.