Author: Cantu

I'm the owner of the www.Firebase.com.br site and the author of the books Firebird Essencial, Firebird 2 and Migration Guide to Firebird 3. Loving Firebird even before it was born!

Article: Data access methods used in Firebird

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From firebirdsql.org:

Don’t be fooled with the title! This is not just another article. 

“Data access methods used in Firebird” is a foundation document (88 pages!) for anyone serious about Firebird queries’ performance. Just like important books that change how we think about technology, this article will change how you work with Firebird queries.

Created by author of Firebird documentation Denis Simonov and Firebird engine developer Dmitry Yemanov, this article explains complex concepts of Firebird optimization in clear language, with numerous examples and visual execution plans.

This document provides an unprecedented look at Firebird’s query processing engine, covering:

  • Primary data access methods – How Firebird reads tables, uses indexes, and processes data
  • Filtering techniques – The various ways Firebird filters data streams
  • Joining algorithms – Detailed explanations of Nested Loop, Hash, and Merge joins
  • Advanced optimization strategies – How Firebird decides the most efficient execution plan

Who Should Read This

  • Firebird Database Administrators
  • Advanced SQL developers
  • Anyone who wants to make their Firebird databases run better

This knowledge is so important that we will use it as the basis for our Advanced Certification Exam for Firebird SQL developers. 

Read article here  (also available as PDF version).

Blob speed improvements are coming sooner than expected!

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Great news for the Firebird community!

Thanks to several of the participants of the 21st Firebird Developers Day (FDD), significant improvements have been made to blob traffic performance, especially in high-latency network environments. These enhancements were implemented by Vlad Khorsun in two phases.

The first phase, already released in Firebird 5.02, delivered remarkable performance gains of up to 49%!

The second phase, delivering up to 97% gains, was originally scheduled for Firebird 6, but it is coming much sooner, in the upcoming Firebird 5.03!

And you will not need to pay anything extra for this, since Firebird is 100% free!

FBPC 1.0.3 is released

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A new version of Performance Comparer for Firebird (FBPC) is now available. Version 1.0.3 has the following changes:

  1. Fixed some parameters data type identifying logic (the traceapi writes the params data types based on their internal field type, not the declared type)
  2. The statement’s grid wasn’t showing a value when the statement execution time was below 1ms
  3. Added some error handling during the statements execution
  4. Now any errors during the execution of an statement will be logged in the errors.log file (in the application directory)

FBPC is a free tool that can help people to compare the performance of real life SQL statements between two Firebird versions, or even between the same Firebird version but with different configurations in firebird.conf.

Blob transfer speed optimizations

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It is well known that transferring blobs in Firebird over high latency networks (i.e. internet) is very slow. The main reason is that transferring blobs always required lots of roundtrips. The good news is that the donations collected in the 21st Firebird Developers Day (FDD) Brazilian conference are being used to sponsor the improvement of blobs transfer speed. The changes are being developed by Vlad Khorsun and the currently results looks very good (see below)!

Note that the improvements are being developed in two phases. The first phase is ready and didn’t require any changes in the Firebird Wire Protocol, so it will be available in the upcoming Firebird 5.02 release. Transfer times were reduced by 33%-49%.

The second phase is still under development and requires changes in the Firebird Wire Protocol, so it will be available only in Firebird 6, but it already shows great results from 94%-97% improvement! In the best case, the time dropped from 12s to 477msecs!

A sad day for the Firebird Project

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As seen in FirebirdSQL official site:

Helen Borrie, a key figure in the Firebird relational database project and a longtime contributor at IBPhoenix, passed away on January 2, 2025. Her contributions were essential to Firebird’s creation and its development over the past 25 years.

Helen’s dedication to the project was unwavering. She played a critical role in establishing the Firebird Foundation and managed its operations as the Foundation’s Secretary. Her work ensured that the project had the structure and support needed to grow and succeed. She often worked behind the scenes, making sure things ran smoothly and that the community had the resources it needed.

She was also the author of The Firebird Book, a comprehensive guide that became an invaluable resource for users and developers. Helen’s writing made Firebird accessible to many, helping them understand and use the database effectively. She was always ready to assist others, sharing her knowledge generously within the user community.

Helen’s quiet leadership and dedication left a lasting impact on Firebird and its users. Her efforts helped build not just a powerful database but also a strong, collaborative community. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her and benefited from her work.

21st Firebird Developers Day – the end

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The 21st Firebird Developers Day concluded today with a special lecture by Dmitry Yemanov on the topic “Understanding the Optimizer Plans.” For the first time, participants heard Dmitry speaking Portuguese :-), thanks to the help of Artificial Intelligence.

This year’s event was held online, allowing more people to participate, especially those who live far from Piracicaba, where the in-person event is usually held. In terms of content, it was one of the best FDDs and featured high-quality live questions at the end of each presentation!

I would like to thank all the speakers (Rodrigo Marchiori, José Francisco Cervi Neto, Carlos Eduardo, Marcelo Daibert, and Dmitry Yemanov), as well as the participants and also the sponsors: IBExpert, uniGUI, Innovio, and Embarcadero, in addition to the supporters Woll2Woll, Steema, and ACBr.

21st FDD – for Portuguese speakers outside Brazil

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Se você fala português, não está no Brasil, e gostaria de participar do 21º Firebird Developers Day, que será realizado on-line de 7 a 11 de outubro, temos um link exclusivo para você se inscrever!

Será uma palestra por noite, iniciando às 20h (GMT -3), mas não se preocupe, se esse horário é muito tarde para você, as palestras ficarão gravadas e poderão ser assistidas a partir de 21/outubro, mas somente para quem estiver inscrito no evento.

Vale lembrar também que somente os participantes poderão comprar o IBExpert e o uniGUI com os menores preços do ano (confira os valores no FAQ do site do evento). Só o que se economiza com os descontos já faz valer a inscrição 😉

Veja os temas das palestras:

  • Entendendo os PLANos do otimizador (Dmitry Yemanov)
  • I.A. + Firebird – Estratégias e Ferramentas Inovadoras (Carlos E. Paulino)
  • Atualizando a metadata do BD com sua aplicação (Carlos H. Cantu)
  • O que você está perdendo por não migrar para o Firebird 5 (Carlos H. Cantu)
  • Validando o servidor através de benchmarks (Marcelo Daibert)

Para se inscrever, clique aqui , mas atenção: o link funcionará somente até o dia 01/outubro, então inscreva-se agora mesmo! É importante que informe durante a compra o mesmo email com o qual está cadastrado na firebase.com.br , para que possamos identificá-lo na nossa base de dados e efetuar sua inscrição.

Esquenta FDD (FDD Warm-up)

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Sorry, this is only for Portuguese speakers…

No dia 26/setembro (quinta-feira) às 10h (GMT-3 – horário de Brasília) estaremos realizando o Esquenta FDD, com a apresentação de 2 estudos de caso de sucesso envolvendo o Firebird.

O Esquenta é gratuito e aberto a todos que quiserem participar, bastando se cadastrar usando esse link e entrar na data e hora programadas.

Aproveite e se inscreva também no 21º Firebird Developers Day, que será realizado on-line, de 7 a 11 de outubro. As inscrições se encerram dia 27/setembro.

PHP 8.4 Improvements when working with modern Firebird versions

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From firebirdsql.org:

PHP 8.4 beta 5 has been released, marking a significant milestone for PHP developers, particularly those working with Firebird databases. This update brings crucial enhancements to the built-in PDO-Firebird driver. Now supporting modern data types, including DECFLOAT, the driver offers substantial benefits for PHP applications using Firebird 4 and 5.

This improved Firebird support in standard PHP will streamline development of Firebird-based PHP applications, making the process more straightforward and transparent. For an in-depth look at these enhancements, check out the new article “PHP 8.4 Improvements when working with modern Firebird versions“.

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