Re: postgresql or mysql
On Fri, Jun 16, 2006 at 04:17:19AM +0300, gustavo halperin wrote:
} I'm starting to work with DB, and I have a doubt about if learn and use
} postgresql or mysql. From the links:
} http://linas.org/linux/db.html
} http://www-css.fnal.gov/dsg/external/freeware/mysql-vs-pgsql.htm
} I understand that postgresql is better, but if I'm right why SQL looks
} more popular ???
} Which DB you recommend like the best one ??
It's a matter of the right tool for the job. An application that does
little or no updating of rows and mostly inserts and retrieves rows from
individual tables generally does quite well on MySQL. An application that
can be expected to require strong ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation,
and durability) guarantees, data integrity constraints, complicated
(particularly nested) queries, and/or other standard database (rather than
datastore) functionality, you are better off with PostgreSQL. Note that
the InnoDB engine provides some, but not all, of this functionality within
MySQL.
The popularity of MySQL over PostgreSQL largely comes from outdated
performance comparison, an incorrect belief that commercial support is not
available for PostgreSQL, a number of well-known applications and websites
(e.g. slashdot) using MySQL, the outdated original definition of LAMP, and
MySQL being GPL'd rather than using the BSD license as PostgreSQL does.
Personally, every time I've attempted to use MySQL I've given up on it due
to its inability to represent the data model I was trying to express
(largely involving integrity constraints), but I wallowed in database
theory in grad school and therefore have some rather idealistic
perspectives on what it means to manage data in a database. On the various
machines I own and work with, MySQL is installed on none and PostgreSQL is
installed on several.
} Thank you,
} Gustavo Halperin
--Greg
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