Re: add column sillyness - Mailing list pgsql-general

On a more serious note though I stopped doing comparisons between postgres
and mysql a long time ago.  As soon as I realized that it didn't have unions
(yes I know that it does now) I never took it seriously again.  But I have
noticed some very good things about firebird.  Namely:

tested, solid, native replication both syncronous and asyncronous (at least
they list this as a feature, I assume it works as advertised)
native windows versions
scales down better for embedded apps

The first feature is something that is not a huge deal to me right now but
it probably will be someday.  Right now I do a full backup every 15 minutes
and rsync it to a backup db server.  As my databases are small right now
this is not much of a problem.  I'm hoping that this feature will pop up in
postgres before it becomes a must have.

The last two combined woudl be nice because we have code that runs on both
our web apps running on linux but the same code is also embedded into some
desktop apps that need to run on windows.  Right now we just use sqlite and
it works great but it would be nice to know that if I write some code for
the server that it will "just work" on the desktop version because it is the
exact same piece of software.

Of course I'm sure there are many things that postgres has that firebird
doesn't.  I think that anyone who knows anything starts investigating open
source databases is going to narrow it down to postgres and firebird.  As
important as it might be to have postgers vs mysql comparisons for those who
are aren't aware of mysql's limitations I think it would be very useful to
have a postgres vs firebird comparison.

Does anyone have a link to such a comparison?  Also can anyone elaborate on
the features that postgres has that firebird lacks?  If there were some
obvious show stoppers in firebird it would save me the time of having to do
a trial port of an app to firebird before I find them on my own.

thanks,

rg


----- Original Message -----
From: "Shridhar Daithankar" <shridhar_daithankar@myrealbox.com>
To: <pgsql-general@postgresql.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 8:50 AM
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] add column sillyness


> Hi,
>
> I think it is time to create a pgsql-humour list where such mails can be
directed..
>
> No point wasting energy answering such questions especially when they do
not
> appear sincere..
>
> Thomas Zehetbauer wrote:
>
> > Why do I have to use FOUR queries to accomplish the same result I can
> > get from MySQL with only ONE query:
> >
> > alter table users add column $ColumnName text;
> > alter table users alter column $ColumnName set default '';
> > update users set t_shirt_size='' where $ColumnName is null;
> > alter table users alter column $ColumnName set not null;
> >
> > MySQL is CLEARLY SUPERIOR in terms of
> > - usability
> >   - see above
> > - performance
> >   - uses index for for min()/max()
> > - reliability
> >   - no need to use vacuum
> >   - no need to dump and restore databases for version upgrade
> >   - never screwed up any of my databases
>
> Lucky you..:-)
>
> >
> > I would therefore urgently recommend that
> > 1) development of postgresql shall be immediately ceased
> > 2) any resources gained thereby (developers, mirrors)  shall be donated
> >   to MySQL
> > 3) code produced by the former postgresql developers shall be subject to
> >   a mandatory peer review before it is included in MySQL
>
> Shridhar
>
>
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