[PHP-DB] Re: MySql or postgre? From: Bob Hall (bobhall <email protected>)
Date: 11/27/00

>Hello all, i hope you can help me on this one.
>I'm kinda recent to php and mysql although i've been working in programming
>for a couple of years.
>i'm also new to mysql and postgre...
>i've been using mysql and i find it fine, but i saw some posts were it says
>that mysql is not that good.

MySQL is somewhat specialized. What it does, it does very well. It's
advantages are that it doesn't require much hard disk space, it is
easy to install and learn to use, it is fast in the right
environment, and it is reliable. The C libraries the underlie its SQL
interface have been in production use since the early 1980s. It's
primary disadvantage is it's specialization; it can't do the sort of
OLTP (On Line Transaction Processing) that databases are usually
designed for (transactions, many concurrent users doing updates,
etc.).

>i know a few of you are experts in this matter and i would like to hear you
>about this.
>is postgre better more efficient, does it needs more recurses, is it faster,

Whether it's faster or not depends on the environment. For OLTP,
definitely faster. For churning out web pages, probably not. On the
down side, PostgreSQL is bigger, more complicated, harder to install,
harder to learn. Earlier versions had a reputation for corrupting
tables every few months under steady use. Whether this problem
continues in the current version, I haven't heard.

The question is not whether one is better or not, but what you want
to do. If you want a draught animal that can haul anything, go with
PostgreSQL. If you want a race horse that goes fast around specific
types of tracks, pick MySQL.

>how about sql... are there any lacks on both of the data bases?

At the moment, PostgreSQL has the edge (e.g. subqueries, set
functions like UNION).

MySQL is adding SQL functionality, so in the next few months the
difference will become much smaller. Second parties are adding
transactions and row level locking to the basic MySQL package,
although currently the first is not yet gamma ware and the second is
vapor ware. If these ever become reality, they will allow MySQL to
function in an OLTP environment. Basically though, I think it's
always going to be a niche database, although in a very large niche.
For PostgreSQL, the development team is ironing out the remaining
kinks and turning it into real competition for the commercial DBMSs.

Another option is Interbase. It's been in commercial use and under
continuous development since the early 1980s. It matches PostgreSQL
in functionality and takes up less hard disk space than MySQL. The
Delphi developers I know who have used it think it's great. The
downside is recent lack of development. It's multi-threaded on
Windows, but not on Linux, and it has no in-house ODBC driver as of
yet. The corporate owner has spun Interbase development off as a
seperate company and released the source code for the most recent
version, but the spin-off company seems to be having trouble getting
started.

So those are your open source options: the plow horse, the race
horse, and the dark horse. Personally, I use MySQL, but I don't think
it's better. It just happens to fit my needs.

Bob Hall

Know thyself? Absurd direction!
Bubbles bear no introspection. -Khushhal Khan Khatak 

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