Databases - WAS Re: acronym LAMP

[Knapp]

On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 12:10 AM, CLIFFORD
ILKAY<clifford_ilkay at dinamis.com> wrote:
> On 22/06/09 04:53 AM, scott wrote:
>> Derek Broughton wrote:
>>> Karl F. Larsen wrote:
>>
>>>> The MySQL database is used a lot on Web Pages you buy things from. It
>>>> is the Data Base (DB) of choice for that purpose. You can get MySQL from
>>>> the Ubuntu repositories.
>>>>
>>>> Oracle is a big SQL DB which is very expensive and used by Banks and
>>>> big business.
>>> Fairly accurate - except that I question Oracle as being used by "Banks"
>>> which have a horrible tendency to be monolithic IBM shops (thus, DB2 if they
>>> want a relational database, otherwise IMS).
>>
>>> But you missed commenting on Postgres, which is, indeed, a viable
>>> replacement for Oracle for many users.  It probably can't handle the load
>>> that a big Oracle database can, but it can do pretty well everything Oracle
>>> can - making it easier to switch databases between the two than between
>>> either and MySQL.  All accounts suggest that as a web back-end, nothing
>>> beats MySQL.
>
> "All accounts".... that's like "they" say. It's nonsense. Plenty of web
> apps use PostgreSQL. It's true MySQL is more widely-used but that has
> nothing to do with any inherent superiority. At one time it *was* faster
> than PostgreSQL but that was a decade ago. MySQL concentrated on speed
> over data integrity and features while PostgreSQL concentrated on data
> integrity and features and left performance for later. PG has long since
> surpassed MySQL in speed and scalability while MySQL languishes in terms
> of features and data integrity. It's easier to optimize performance than
> it is to retrofit good design so MySQL has its work cut out. Try running
> MySQL under heavy load on a multi-core CPU and see how well it responds
> to the additional CPU cores and try that same thing with PostgreSQL.
> You'll see that PG will scale fairly linearly with additional cores
> while MySQL will not.
>
>> When it comes to SQL, it depends on what you're good at. Oracle,
>> PostGre, DB2, MSSQL, MySQL all have their pluses and minuses.
>>
>> Oracle is supposed to be more secure, DB2 more scalable for large
>> datacenters and MYSQL is faster.
>
> MySQL is faster than what? Certainly not faster than Oracle, DB2, or
> PostgreSQL. I have extensive experience with MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle,
> and DB2. There is *nothing* that MySQL has to offer over any of them
> save for being able to find it in on $5/month hosting accounts, which
> would make you "lucky customer #1001" on a box with 1000 other accounts.
> --
> Regards,
>
> Clifford Ilkay
> Dinamis

I hate to contradict you when I think that you are totally correct but
PostGre is hard to find on web stores and other like software. It is
getting better but things like ZenCart are MySQL. I really wanted
postgre but ended up with MySQL because of stuff like this.

I needed a nice no thinking store and BBS to go with it so I ended up
with ZenCart. Sure I could have done it other ways but this was the
best that I could find and in the end MySQL is good enough for me (I
still want postgre with zencart!!).
-- 
Douglas E Knapp

Why do we live?