Re: Differences between postgres and mysql

> the reason I ask is I have always used postgres at home and work, but my new
> web host only has mysql :(

Have you tried asking them to support postgreSQL? A client of mine had to
switch ISP's rather abruptly last fall, in the middle of a lengthy project
to convert them to postgreSQL from a legacy environment which includes
some work in MySQL both internally and at the previous ISP.

They agreed to add postgreSQL support when we need it, which will likely
be in the next month or two. They were also very cooperative in providing
other tools, like recompiling php to add features we needed, such as
support for dBase files.

> I want to know what sort of differences I will have in regards to
> programming php/perl webpages using the database.

The project I'm working on is using pg instead of MySQL because of the
feature richness of pg, especially things like triggers.

Here's a short list of things I've had to put up with in the MySQL part of
that project:

Difficulties in updating table A from table B because of the lack
of subqueries or the 'update from' syntax in pg.

Minor annoyances like needing to write 'substring' instead of 'substr'.

Periodic corruption of indexes.

Inconsistent handling of case sensitivity in SQL between windows
and unix/linux implementations, which makes moving code from one
platform to another more vexing. (On the other hand, MySQL appears
to handle case insensitivity in data better than pg.)

MySQL's poor implementation of the 'alter table' process.
--
Mike Nolan