Re: Postgress and MYSQL - Mailing list pgsql-general

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On Wednesday 14 January 2004 10:18 pm, Chris Travers wrote:
> 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

Basically it's a question of what product to compare postgresql with. If you
target the DB2 / Oracle / Sybase corner I don't think a lot of those admins
have a problem getting used to postgresql.
But looking around on the net and in paper publications makes it obvious that
postgresql is mostly compared to mysql - both being "open source" (well, to
some degree :-)) )
Coming from the classic DB systems around I found it much easier to use
postgresql than to use mysql - things like transactions always were a given
fact for me, so I was utterly surprised not being able to set an isolation
level in mysql.
Having the usual comparison in mind I agree with Chris that at least a link
collection to sources that educate the "average ms-access user" about basic
database concepts might prove very useful - even if people won't read it, but
at least it's much easier to point them to the right place instead of
repeating the same things over and over again.

My $0.01 <- only one cent here - need the other one for another email :-)


    UC

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