Databases versus plain text

Question

When dealing with small projects, what do you feel is the break even point for storing data in simple text files, hash tables, etc., versus using a real database? For small

Answer 1

For me, the line is crossed once I have to query my data in ways that involve more than a single relationship. Relating two flat data structures on disk is fairly simple, but once we get beyond that, a set-based language like SQL and formal database relationships actually reduce complexity.