Retric said if I provide data that's accurate +/- .2 seconds that's close enough, but he's wrong (sorry Retric, it's not your fault). The fact is, I must provide each member with the relative position of his post each time he makes one, and the only way I know to do this is to append the new record first, and then do a search and sort to determine where his new post appears in the sorted list.

Retric, you said I'm not going to be able to sort things that fast for every new post. Do you know this to be true? Is this an absolute fact or are you theorizing?

I'm not suggesting that you wrong when you say this, but I certainly do not want to assume you're right just because you say so -- because unless there's another way to determine the position of the new post in a sorted list I may have no other choice but to abandon the existing approach, re-work the entire business plan, and try something else from a completely different angle. I prefer to NOT do this when the current concept is the best I've come up with.

What abut other people's experiences? Do any of you know about data systems that can do an append, followed by a search and sort on one field, at the rate of 16,000 times a second? Or is there another way to determine the position of a record in a sorted list without sorting the db to rceate that sorted list?

How about if the database is kept entirely in RAM? I know this will speed things up a lot, but will sorts be fast enough for 16,000 a second without bogigng down?

mseebach, you asked "What exactly is the output?" and I'm not sure if your question was directed to me but if it was, and if you're asking about the data that needs to be sent from the server back to the browser, then I think I might need to send only "one character" back to the Javascript. Previously I was going to send an entire HTML page but it seems the Javascript solution could be orders of magnitude more efficient. By using the Javascript approach I can send only 10 chars to the server and receive only one char back from the server. The Javascript can then convert that one char to the proper "relative position" value for display in the browser -- or so I hope.

bd, you said I might do better to build my own custom in-memory data structure rather than use a classical ready-made database solution. Maybe you're right. It would certainly reduce the costs over a super-expensive high-speed database solution, wouldn't it? I've never done such a thing before but maybe I can find someone who has. Any suggestions?

bd, you also said I do not want to sort the whole dataset after each new piece of data comes in, and you're right about that too. What I really need is to insert each piece of data in the proper pre-sorted position as it comes in. Then I never have to sort the data later because it's being sorted before or as it enters the db.

spinonethird, you said that from my description I'm not really using the db and maybe I can roll my own specialized data structure. You and bd seem to think alike, and with two of you in consensus I'm becoming more attracted to this idea, especially if it has the potential for faster performance than an off-the-shelf database program.

AS far as the business details are concerned, I know some people (gsiener, rbanffy and perhaps others) are curious but I'm not at liberty to discuss the details at this time. When I eventually spill the beans it will probably be after the business launches so we can gain traction and market share before the competition invades our turf ... :)

One question before I end this post:

Is C the fastest language or the best language to "roll your own" databse solution, or are other languages just as good or better? I'm not up-to-date on the advantages of many programming languages so your thoughts and opinions on this issue might help me to pick the best language for a project like this. Thanks.