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databasematlabmat-file

Benefit of reading data off a mat file as opposed from the database

I've seen some code read large data from mat files instead of doing queries on a database. What are the benefits of doing this as oppose to using a database? Is it possible to easily move the mat file contents into a database and vice versa?

Solution

  • Reading data from mat file, is also a "database" in which you read your data from file.
    Eventually, you will have to implement queries by yourself, and take care of many other issues.
    Also, it is not a scalable solution, which means that for a large amount of data, it won't work well.
    Of course, if you have small amount of data, and only basic queries, the fuss of setting up a database, using SQL isn't worth it.

    Regarding your second question, it really depends on the data you have there.