Re: choosing database server for websites
Chris Wagner wrote:
>
> At 05:13 AM 9/25/99 -0400, Johnie Ingram wrote:
> >Basically mysql is great for raw speed, postgresql when you need
> >complicated sites with transactions or PL/SQL like scripting. Both
> >are free -- Debian got them to cough up a GPL mysql-server, but
> >hasn't packaged it yet. :-)
>
> Which one would be better for an online order-entry system? Like an online
> store.
My take on it is that the most important distinctions are that mysql is
light and fast, but Postgresql supports transactions. Where would
transactions be important? Suppose an order is entered that involves,
oh, 5 different products. Maybe you'd need to add a master order record
plus 5 subrecords of some kind, and maybe update the user's account
record for some reason. What if *one* update in this whole process
failed? How much code would you have to write to go back and delete out
or, worse yet, "unupdate" the records that you had updated before the
failure, so you won't have an inconsistent database? Transactions take
care of this for you: nothing's permanently changed until your whole
sequence of updates has checked out. This is what you need to think
about.
For online-order entry, where stuff like this goes on, plus it's
super-critical that the database be consistent, I'd favor something with
transactions. My $.02.
Reply to: