Frequently Asked QuestionsΒΆ

  1. Why PyTables?

    PyTables is a (fantastic) interface to the hdf5 data format. Although not itself a relational database, MDSynthesis uses PyTables for building and managing the persistent state files on disk for Sim, Group, and Coordinator objects. This was chosen over a traditional RDBS because we wanted MDSynthesis to be serverless, and SQLite was not ideal because its file locking mechanisms are known to be unreliable on a network file system (NFS).