Even if most DAC libraries were born to provide you with the basic capabilities to read, manipulate, and store data from/into a DBMS, this is not always the case. Memory tables (in-memory datasets) are a very multi-purpose capability that may often change the way you deal with data in your applications.
There are a number of situations where an in-memory dataset can be useful. Let's cover some of the most common:
- Handling data that does not come from a DBMS: Sometimes you need to handle or collect data and the data source is something different from a DBMS. For example, you may want to collect data from sensors or other devices you can reach through networking or other communication channels. When the amount of data reaches a certain point, you may actually want to treat it as a dataset and possibly still use all the goodies you are familiar with (like filtering, sorting, aggregate functions, and so on). Also, having data in a format that is...
