Re: [HACKERS] Are we losing momentum? - Mailing list pgsql-patches

> > Um, I'm interested in aiding in the conversion of users from MySQL
> > to PostgreSQL (how ever it happens, I don't really care).
>
> Your approach to that reminds me of those
>
> alias dir='ls'
> alias md='mkdir'
>
> things that Linux distributors once stuck (or still stick?) in the
> default profile files, presumably to help conversion from DOS.  It's
> pretty pointless, because Linux is still very different from DOS,
> and once you want to do something besides showing or changing
> directories, you will need documentation and training.

Well, interestingly enough, those commands work for getting people in
the door and to the point that they're able to learn more.  The first
step to any kind of adult education or reeducation is to have concepts
that the people are familiar with (in this case MySQL) be translated
into the concepts of the area that they're trying to learn.  If you'd
have read the original patch that I'd posted, you'd see that I'd done
that by adding a TIP section to the top of the response.

*SNIP*
SHOW COLUMNS FROM [tblname];

     TIP: In psql, "SHOW COLUMNS FROM [tblname]" is natively written as \dt [tblname]

[normal output from \dt tblname]
*END SNIP*

The point of my patch was to aid the conversion, not to gimp along
b0rk3d habits from MySQL.

> That is what the MySQL conversion process needs as well, otherwise
> you're not converting, you're emulating, and that is not a game you
> can win.

Emulation within reason.  dir->ls and md->mkdir worked for a handful
of people that I've transitioned into the UNIX world from Win32 land,
in fact, I have one friend from school who's been so successful that
he's converted from using Win32 on his desktop to using Linux, worked
with me on a job where we were hacking mod_perl on a site pushing in
excess of 80Mbps to 25M people a day, but still types dir to this day.
Not bad for an aero student who graduated with a 4.0 in his major,
exceedingly bright, adaptive, learns fast, etc.  My point is that
regardless of how bright the person or what the right invocation, aids
like these help get people in the door and if they like what they see
once they're through the door, they'll stay.  Once people try and use
PostgreSQL, they stay.  When people try MySQL, they're left wanting or
needing more and are bound by the limits of the software... that's not
really the case with PostgreSQL.

To get people to try, you play the association or emulation game and
it works.  Ask anyone in adult education and they will say the same.
The Internet was an "information super highway" because that was
something that people could grasp, regardless of how flawed it really
is.  Bandwidth is thought of as pipes in various sizes diameters, a
much better analogy.  To geeks, broadcast is explained as the same as
radio and unicast as satellite TV.  To communication majors, TCP is
descried as a letter that's been chopped up into a thousand numbered
pieces and sent to the other side of the US via the postal mail.
Leche is milk to English speakers learning Spanish. One way or
another, you have to play the game of working within the understanding
of the target audience, in this case, MySQL users who use a SHOW
TABLES type syntax.

-sc

--
Sean Chittenden