Re: [pgsql-advocacy] How to convince people to choose PostgreSQL overMySQL? - Mailing list pgsql-advocacy

From Darren Duncan
Subject Re: [pgsql-advocacy] How to convince people to choose PostgreSQL overMySQL?
Date
Msg-id 18edb3d4-8a41-9229-921c-fe1ae66273f2@darrenduncan.net
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In response to Re: [pgsql-advocacy] How to convince people to choose PostgreSQL over MySQL?  (Jonathan Bartlett <jonathan@bartlettpublishing.com>)
List pgsql-advocacy
On 2017-06-15 12:37 PM, Jonathan Bartlett wrote:
> There were a few reasons that MySQL took off when it did:
>
> 1) PostgreSQL was really, really slow at the time (PG < 7)
> 2) MySQL for simple select statements was (and is) really really fast
> 3) Wordpress used MySQL
>
> MySQL is great for simple stuff.  If you are doing only simple selects, and the
> thing you care most in the world about is simple scanning speed, MySQL may in
> fact be right for you.
>
> But anytime you need your database to be more powerful, it is almost always
> dwarfed by PostgreSQL.  PG has long left its slow days behind it.  Even more
> importantly, complex queries are MUCH better to handle in PG.  The query
> optimizer in PG is actually pretty amazing.  I don't think MySQL even has
> anything close.  PG allows full-text querying, searching, etc. in a native
> fashion.  It has a ton of great extensions. It fully supports full programming
> languages when building functions.
>
> Anyway, if you are only doing simple selects, then perhaps MySQL is all right.
> If you are doing anything else, use PG.

My thought is, even if you are only doing simple selects, Postgres is still
better than MySQL at not losing your data and many other quality control matters
that go beyond simply features.

In my mind, the only reason to use MySQL is temporarily for legacy reasons, or
if its the only supported DBMS for an application you really need, especially if
the risk of losing data is more acceptable, eg a message board and not something
financial.

-- Darren Duncan



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