Norbert Hartl - Soil: a database for fun and profit - 26 November 2025

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For our last 2025 meeting, Norbert Hartl will present Soil - an object oriented database implemented in Pharo.

Soil is an object oriented database implemented completely in smalltalk/pharo. It makes it easy to build a persistent solution without the burden of mapping everything to some external DSL/database. It supports storing arbitrary graphs and enables transparent access to them. It has binary search indexes to make lookups of huge collections quite efficient. It is the main database behind ApptiveGrid - low code tool to build business processes.

Norbert Hartl is an experienced software engineer and entrepreneur with a strong track record of delivering business projects and developing key libraries and frameworks. As the co-founder of ApptiveGrid and PharoPro, he focuses on creating efficient, zero-dependency software solutions that drive business innovation and streamline operations.

Update 2 January 2026: The recording of the presentation is now up on YouTube:

This will be an online meeting.

If you'd like to join us, please sign up in advance on the meeting's Meetup page to receive the meeting details.

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