Re: Newbie basic and silly question

> On Feb 22, 2006, at 14:04 , sconeek(at)gmail(dot)com wrote:
>
> > now my understanding is that sql is a db language
> which is used by
> > both
> > mysql and postgres.
>
> I think this wikipedia entry will clear up a lot of
> your questions.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL
>
> > also mysql is a subset of postgres. a lot of
> > features in postgres come from mysql.
>
> No. PostgreSQL and MySQL are different database
> management servers
> (DBMS) (with completely different origins) that both
> support the SQL
> language. Other DBMSs include Firebird, MSSQL
> Server, DB2, and Oracle.
>
> I'm sure there are other Wikipedia entries that may
> help you as well.

just to add a bit on what Michael said, the different
dbs may also have some custom sql syntaxes. iow,
while most of the dbs support most of the standard sql
syntax, this isn't always the case.

this usually isn't an issue unless 1. your db of
choice (postgress is great, btw) has an easy way to do
something that might not be in the sql standard and 2.
when you change dbs, since all the sql may not be portable.

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