TigerEye Introduces DuckDB.dart to Facilitate Data-Intensive App Development

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TigerEye Labs, an AI-powered planning and revenue management platform, has announced the open-source release of DuckDB.dart, an open-source tool that enables developers to build and run data-intensive applications more efficiently. 

DuckDB.dart, a native Dart API for DuckDB, enables developers to build apps across various mobile and desktop environments, including iOS, Android, Linux, and Windows.

As DuckDB.dart is specifically designed for analytical queries, it can handle large datasets and complex queries more efficiently within a single machine compared to other technologies like SQLite, which is geared more toward general-purpose database management.

With its high performance and the ability to handle large datasets locally, DuckDB has seen rapid growth in recent years, though it still presents a steep learning curve. Now, with TigerEye Labs developing the new DuckDB.dart API, the platform is becoming more accessible and easier to use for data analysis and simulation.

DuckDB.dart leverages DuckDB’s powerful C APIs to bring high-performance data handling to Dart applications. The platform’s columnar format improves efficiency for certain types of queries. Combined with the vectorized execution, the format allows for faster downloads and efficient data analysis, while also minimizing memory usage on devices. 

DuckDB was originally developed in 2019 by Mark Raasveldt and Hannes Mühleisen at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands. Initially, the founders did not expect their open-source project to become so popular and well-recognized in the data management and analytics communities. Last month, DuckDB achieved 6.7 million downloads. 

“We are delighted to see the release of DuckDB.dart as we believe mobile platforms are the next big frontier for DuckDB,” says Hannes Mühleisen, CEO and co-founder at DuckDB Labs. “We are thankful for TigerEye’s commitment to creating a Dart API for DuckDB and making it open-source from the start. Being openly available ensures that everyone can use this library, which aligns with our vision of creating a free analytical database management system that can be deployed anywhere.”

Hannes Mühleisen is the leader of the CWI team that created DuckDB and the CEO and co-founder of DuckDB Labs

Amid DuckDB’s impressive growth, Hannes Mühleisen has also been recognized as one of Datanami’s People to Watch in 2024. Mühleisen told Datanami that he hopes “choosing DuckDB for data processing will become a no-brainer”. He also shared that the decision to not go for venture capital allowed DuckDB to grow steadily, without the typical pressures of external investment. 

Ralph Gootee, CTO and co-founder of TigerEye, shared, “Our customers benefit as the community helps improve the software. Open source goes beyond just serving our customers; it’s about providing value to the world.”

According to Gootee, DuckDB’s ability to allow users to perform powerful data manipulation directly within the application, rather than on a server offers a key advantage compared to conventional data systems. He also believes with DuckDB integrated into Dart, there is great potential in developing high-performance enterprise software that is more secure and efficient than current cloud offerings. 

TigerEye’s investment in DuckDB and Dart underscores the company’s dedication to advancing technology and improving performance. The Android and iOS ports for DartDB.dart will ensure reliable data access to sales teams on the go, enhancing their ability to address real-time operational needs. 

DuckDB.dart also offers multi-threaded database support that enables concurrent processing of database operations. The platform also features prepared statements and appenders that optimize query performance by reducing the execution time for repeated queries. TigerEye will present DuckDB.dart at DuckCon #5 in Seattle.

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