David's Computer Stuff Journal: PostgreSQL 8.3 is out

PostgreSQL 8.3 is out

David N. Welton — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 07:00:00 -0800

http://www.postgresql.org/about/news.918

I've always preferred PostgreSQL to Mysql. I think the "worse is better" compromise is ok in some cases, but it's scary to see money being handled in transactionless MyISAM tables that are so widely used; I've done work for a number of places that had that kind of setup, and extrapolating from that, it's got to be very, very common indeed. I guess they heard it was "faster"... but I've always likened that kind of faster to the kind of faster you get by riding a bicycle with no brakes down a hill. Mysql's made lots of improvements over the past few years and is beginning to approach the robustness that Postgres has always had, but I'm going to stick with Postgres, and I'm glad to see they keep churning out cool new things, using the same sort of community open source approach that works so well at the Apache Software Foundation.

"PostgreSQL 8.3 is out" by wulczer

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:03:05 -0800

Sven: you need to execute a single-table insert statement in a transaction because otherwise you won't be sure if you inserted just half of the rows intended, or none, or all.

In PostgreSQL every query is executed in a transaction, which gives you the warm and fuzzy feeling that when a query finishes successfully your data is as safe as can be. You can't do anything 'outside' of a transaction, and that's precisely what's good for you.

Of course there are situations in which you could care more for the speed that for the consistency, but I think they're very rare. MySQL's good up until your first HDD failure.

"PostgreSQL 8.3 is out" by David N. Welton

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:33:48 -0800

I don't really bash Mysql. I said:

It's scary to see money handled without transactions.
Mysql's brand of faster was not very safe (and still isn't, in MyISAM, which is the default). That's not 'bashing', it's a fact.
I picked on the Mysql advocates who have changed their tune as the database's features have changed.

"PostgreSQL 8.3 is out" by Sven Mueller

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:29:55 -0800

It's great that you like PostgreSQL that much. But why the MySQL "bashing"? It's true that a lot of places use transactionless SQL for applications that really should use transactions. However, I've seen this on both MySQL and PostgreSQL servers. I've also seen over-use of transactions (why do I need an explicit transaction around one single-table insert statement?) though. The choice of the RDBMS has more to it than the question of wether the RDBMS supports transactions on every database (or table) and the question of wether an application is secure depends more on the programmer of the application than on the RDBMS used. But yes, MySQL (3?) used not to support transactions at all, but that was years (and years) ago.

"PostgreSQL 8.3 is out" by Tim

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:05:39 -0800

True. Faster does not really mean better or more accurate really. I have tried mysql, nothing special about it really.

"PostgreSQL 8.3 is out" by Luck

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:02:46 -0800

I think where ever you feel comfortable in using any kind of software just continue using it. No matter how old it be as long as it's useful and comfortable.

"PostgreSQL 8.3 is out" by Olaf van der Spek

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:15:41 -0800

It's not ultimately Mysql's fault - except that it is, because its advocates used to wave away those "databasey" features as not really necessary and focus on the speed.

I can't disagree. There are tons of apps that don't need transactions.

"PostgreSQL 8.3 is out" by David N. Welton

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:45:21 -0800

Olaf, like I said, a lot of improvements have been made in Mysql, and InnoDB is beginning to be comparable to what PostgreSQL has always done. The fact is though, that there are a ton of people out there running Mysql because it was "faster", because people were doing MyISAM comparisons. It's not ultimately Mysql's fault - except that it is, because its advocates used to wave away those "databasey" features as not really necessary and focus on the speed.

Just to be clear, these days either one is a good database in skilled hands, just that I have always preferred the safety-first attitude of PostgreSQL and have therefore continued to use it.

"PostgreSQL 8.3 is out" by Olaf van der Spek

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:00:59 -0800

Why don't you compare it to InnoDB instead of MyISAM?