Re: Postgress and MYSQL - Mailing list pgsql-general

From: "Keith C. Perry" <netadmin@vcsn.com>

> 3) Not being able to "find" something in via search BEFORE even reading
the
>    documentation is somewhat backwards.  You have to at least get a feel
for
>    the docs before even know what to look for.  That is not to say that
the
>    search engine is not problematic but it is to say that I'm am more and
more
>    convinced that knowing how to search more important than what is being
>    searched for.

Well put, and I like the other posts about the usefullness of a really good
index.  However, I think that there is an attitude that MySQL docs are
better for beginners because the search really takes the place of the index.
However, IMO, this masks a more subtle issue, see below.
>
> 4) As many people pointed out before, a product should not be technical
>    education it should product education.  Some people take it as being
rude
>    we some on-list says use google or check <some other site>.  Granted
>    being told "this is not hand holding" is definitely a slap in the face
its
>    been done to me and I'm sure there is a better way to put it but the
>    reality is that PG docs are very good.  Get some paper and print
>    they out double-sided- they're an excellent reference.  However, you
have to
>    understand the basics first and that simply does not belong on the PG
>    site (save a link to some community recommendations).
>
I agree to a point, in that the PostgreSQL product documentation is product
education, not general database education.  However, the "community
recommended links" approach has a number of difficiencies that I don't think
have been discussed much:

1:  Community maintained lists of links seems the easy way to go until those
links become broken or change and need to be removed due to inaccurate
content.  It may be easier over the long term to maintain our own technical
education database that we have control over.

2: You DO have a problem that PostgreSQL as a product assumes more general
knowledge than MySQL.  The docs tend to assume you know stuff, and it would
be nice to have community maintained references on these general topics,
perhaps on techdocs, perhaps elsewhere.

3:  MySQL is a database engine which seems to make sense UNTIL you are
technically educated.  Competing with MySQL may mean being able to
articulate why ACID complience is important, for example.  Or why the
database should abort the operation/transaction rather than truncate your
data in a NUMERIC column.

So what is the alternative?  I am working on some documentation but my work
is slowed by my laptop being in the shop.  Perhaps we could have a technical
education category in Techdocs?

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers