What are the advantages and disadvantages of using Realm in mobile applications?

Realm is a mobile database frequently used in iOS applications.

Advantages:

• Ease of use: Realm has a simple and intuitive API that makes working with data easier.
• High performance: Realm operates faster than traditional SQLite solutions, especially when working with large volumes of data.
• Reactive programming support: Realm supports notifications about data changes, which is convenient for updating the UI.
• Cross-platform: Realm supports iOS, Android, and other platforms, making it suitable for cross-platform projects.
• Automatic thread management: Realm can safely work with threads, simplifying multithreading.

Disadvantages:

• Library size: Realm adds a significant size to the application.
• Closed source: Although Realm is partially open, some parts are closed, which may limit flexibility.
• Limitations in complex queries: Realm does not support all types of complex SQL queries.
• Migration issues: Schema migrations can be complex with large changes.

Example of simple Realm usage in Swift:

import RealmSwift

class Dog: Object {
    @objc dynamic var name = ""
    @objc dynamic var age = 0
}

let realm = try! Realm()

let myDog = Dog()
myDog.name = "Rex"
myDog.age = 1

try! realm.write {
    realm.add(myDog)
}