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kdb+

Score9 out of 10

7 Reviews and Ratings

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What is kdb+?

kdb+ is a time series database from kx headquartered in Palo Alto, California, a division of First Derivatives.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about kdb+.
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Scalable and Reliable

Incentivized
Verified User
Strategist in Research & Development (10,001+ employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use it for large-scale data collection, storage, analysis, and modeling. It has been game-changing in our ability to conduct research on large-scale datasets and has sped up our research pipeline and ability to share code across the team. This is for basic queries as well as more sophisticated AI work.

Pros

  • Time series analysis.
  • Large dataset storage.
  • Query re-use.

Cons

  • Run time error message readability, particularly for new users.
  • Backwards compatibility between versions.

Most Important Features

  • Reliability.
  • Scalability.
  • Re-use.

Return on Investment

  • Ability to get insights into a large production system.
  • Ability to handle data volumes greater than more basic databases / query languages.

Alternatives Considered

Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) and MATLAB

Other Software Used

DataRobot, Microsoft Excel

KDB+ for real time tick data and analytics

Incentivized
ROHAN MANEView profile
AVP in Information Technology at Citi (10,001+ employees employees)

Pros

  • It is really fast if chosen for the right problem.
  • Large logic can be shrunk into a tiny snippet.
  • It provides a column oriented database, where each column in a table is a vector. Thus you can perform very fast analytics using its vector processing power.

Cons

  • It is sometimes painful to accept the fact that KDB+ is not fully multithreaded.
  • The ability to write shorter code for a complex logic is really good. But it makes it really cryptic. Cryptic codes are very difficult to maintain and extend.
  • For some small institutions license cost is little high.

Return on Investment

  • It perfectly solves most of our real time tick data needs.
  • Finding good kdb resources is slightly difficult. Also new people trying to learn kdb experience a relatively longer learning curve.

kdb+ is always ahead of its time

Incentivized
Ye TianView profile
Quant Strategist at KCG Holdings, Inc. (1001-5000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Time series analysis. The built-in vector operations are extremely fast. Also with the q language you can code up any customized analytical ideas quickly.
  • The database are all file based, very easy to maintain.
  • Very solid and fast interface to websocket, so you can interface with javascript easily.

Cons

  • The learning curve is a little steep in the beginning.

Return on Investment

  • Fast turn around on delivering new ideas and products.

Other Software Used

Oracle Berkeley DB, TIBCO StreamBase, Hadoop

Fast but hard to implement

Incentivized
Verified User
Strategist in Research & Development (201-500 employees employees)

Pros

  • Process large amounts of time series data
  • Perform quick calculations without use of cursor
  • Use of window joins and as of joins

Cons

  • Hard to read
  • Hard to find knowledgeable developers
  • Lack of good IDE

Return on Investment

  • Long development time
  • Long hiring cycle
  • Hard to error check

Other Software Used

MySQL, NetBeans

Usability

Powerful language

Incentivized
Verified User
Analyst in Research & Development (501-1000 employees employees)

Pros

  • Efficient computing.
  • Code interpretation is fast.
  • Designed with finance in mind.

Cons

  • The language is difficult to learn.
  • Better solutions are needed for breaking loops without resetting servers.
  • Include basic templates for fields such as finance, medicine, etc.

Return on Investment

  • Increases the speed of the research process.
  • Allows for quick analysis and results.
  • Rapid implementation of new ideas.

Other Software Used

BizNet Excel Suite