Re: Is my MySQL Gaining ?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Christopher Murtagh" <christopher(dot)murtagh(at)mcgill(dot)ca>

> Since my experience with Postgres hasn't been that it is easier than
> MySQL (quite the opposite in fact), perhaps some work needs to be done to
> either dispel that myth, or to make sure that Postgres is easier to use
> (since I started with Postgres and learned MySQL afterwards).
>
When I started with PostgreSQL and MySQL, MySQL was far easier to use,
especially during the prototyping phase. I would actually do all my
prototyping on MySQL and then migrate to PostgreSQL and edit the schemas.
This was version 6.5...

Since then, PostgreSQL has removed all the obstacles I had seen towards its
use. For example, we now have ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN, and a host of other
goodies to make it as easy to use as MySQL.

Basically, with phppgadmin and a few other tools, PostgreSQL is just as easy
to use as MySQL for the things that MySQL does. There are a few programming
issues with PHP (most notably the fact that the result sets in PHP are not
foreward only), but this is can be very useful.

Of course, learning views, new data types, etc. that MySQL doesn't have
makes the product harder to use but then MySQL can't do these things anyway.

PostgreSQL IMO has a bit of an intimidating reputation due in part to its
past lack of ease of use....

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers

> I know it sucks, but ease of use/simplicity goes a long way, often
> further than performance, features and stability.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Chris
>
> --
> Christopher Murtagh
> Enterprise Systems Administrator
> ISR / Web Communications Group
> McGill University
> Montreal, Quebec
> Canada
>
> Tel.: (514) 398-3122
> Fax: (514) 398-2017
>
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