Thread: newbie question
Hi I am going to learn MySql 'cause I have to, but would it be better, or let's say, more interesting, to learn postgressql? Is it newer, more common, etc.? greets mirco
On Sun, Jul 07, 2002 at 11:59:51PM +0200, Mirco D'Angelo wrote: > Hi > > I am going to learn MySql 'cause I have to, but would it be better, or let's > say, more interesting, to learn postgressql? Is it newer, more common, etc.? PostgreSQL is certainly more interesting, more useful, more feature-complete (as far as Relational database servers go), more fun and what you could learn with PostgreSQL you could take to other database servers who are out to be real database servers, not the case with MySQL. AFAIK, MySQL is more common. -Roberto -- +----| http://fslc.usu.edu/ USU Free Software & GNU/Linux Club |------+ Roberto Mello - Computer Science, USU - http://www.brasileiro.net/ http://www.sdl.usu.edu/ - Space Dynamics Lab, Developer Why trying to DRINK and DRIVE, while you can SMOKE and FLY?
On Sunday 07 Jul 2002 10:59 pm, Mirco D'Angelo wrote: > Hi > > I am going to learn MySql 'cause I have to, but would it be better, or > let's say, more interesting, to learn postgressql? Is it newer, more > common, etc.? Mysql is more common on web-hosting platforms, but you can find PostgreSQL if you look. PostgreSQL's ancestors go back further than MySQL - both get updated regularly, so "newer" doesn't mean much. Mysql is easier to setup initially, but both systems require knowledge to tune properly. Both have a lot of online documentation - I'm not sure that one is better than the other. The mailing lists for PostgreSQL are very helpful and contain some very experienced people. PostgreSQL offers some more advanced features. Once you are used to these features it is irritating to find them missing in MySql. For some applications they are pretty much mandatory. PostgreSQL also tends to fit standards more than MySQL. Where I use MySQL behind a website I tend to use PostgreSQL to manage the data here during development. I'd recommend installing both if you can. Try to make sure anything you write works on both and check the documentation for where both diverge from standards. - Richard Huxton
Transactions (well, recently mysql allows them but using propietary extensions), foreign key relationships, subqueries, stored procedures/triggers. MySQL lacks all of these. On the other side, postgres is only ported on *nix platforms, but you can put cygwin/cygipc on Windows, if that is the case. And mysql is "friendlier", that means wrong column value types (INT_VALUE = '5') and double quotes working as simple quotes, so it's easier to start with. As far as I can remember. Mirco D'Angelo wrote: >Hi > >I am going to learn MySql 'cause I have to, but would it be better, or let's >say, more interesting, to learn postgressql? Is it newer, more common, etc.? > >greets >mirco > > > > > >---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- >TIP 6: Have you searched our list archives? > >http://archives.postgresql.org > > > > > > >
> Transactions (well, recently mysql allows them but using propietary > extensions), foreign key relationships, subqueries, stored > procedures/triggers. MySQL lacks all of these. MySQL's InnoDB tables have foreign keys, but they are RESTRICT only - ie. they're kinda useless. > On the other side, postgres is only ported on *nix platforms, but you > can put cygwin/cygipc on Windows, if that is the case. And mysql is > "friendlier", that means wrong column value types (INT_VALUE = '5') and > double quotes working as simple quotes, so it's easier to start with. It's a trap that 'easy to use' factor. Problem with MySQL is that they just make up whole swathes of their SQL syntax out of whole cloth. They just make it up. Then, when you go to use any other SQL-standard database on Earth you have a rather painful learning and code conversion process. Just talk to anyone who uses MySQL's date and time functions, ISNULL(field), or 'KEY's and stuff... Poor newbies get to thinking that MySQL's way is the standard way, but it's not. That's what happened to me, and my life has been a wonderful thing ever since we ditched MySQL in favour of Postgres in our company! Chris
On Sun, 7 Jul 2002, Mirco D'Angelo wrote: > Hi > > I am going to learn MySql 'cause I have to, but would it be better, or let's > say, more interesting, to learn postgressql? Is it newer, more common, etc.? > Well IMO you just cant compare them. Think of a porche that does 100km/h better than a Mirage F1 military aircraft, but F1 can do much higher accelerations at higher speeds, move in 3D space rather than 2D, etc... If you wanna travel fast on the ground go with the porche. If you want the skies go with F1!! > greets > mirco > > > > > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 6: Have you searched our list archives? > > http://archives.postgresql.org > > -- Achilleus Mantzios S/W Engineer IT dept Dynacom Tankers Mngmt tel: +30-10-8981112 fax: +30-10-8981877 email: achill@matrix.gatewaynet.com mantzios@softlab.ece.ntua.gr