| This is a little soap box I have about databases. I am often asked about databases, and how they compare. I will illustrate with pictures three current favorites:
|
|
|
| -|| ::__MySQL__:: | ::__PostgreSQL__:: | ::__Oracle__::
|
| -{img src=http://www.bitweaver.org/imagegals/show_image.php?id=41 align=center }| {img src=http://www.bitweaver.org/imagegals/show_image.php?id=42 align=center } | {img src=http://www.bitweaver.org/imagegals/show_image.php?id=43 align=center }
|
| -Cute and easy to drive you'll get going in a hurry, however it's not the safest place to be if something goes terribly, terribly wrong | It offers rugged durability while being very easy to drive | When you have to kick ass and take names there's only one answer, however just getting the things moving takes a lot of training and education ||
|
| +|| ::__MySQL__:: | ::__PostgreSQL__:: | ::__Firebird__:: | ::__Oracle__:: |
| + {attachment id=123} | {attachment id=122}| {attachment id=1038 size=small} | {attachment id=124} |
| +Cute and easy to drive you'll get going in a hurry, however it's not the safest place to be if something goes terribly, terribly wrong | It offers rugged durability while being very easy to drive | Swiss army knife of a database which scales from simple embedded to multi-gigabyte distributed systems. Totally open source and without any licensing restrictions. Being deployed as a free replacement for Oracle on many sites. | When you have to kick ass and take names there's only one answer, however just getting the things moving takes a lot of training and education || |
|
|
| -What this illustrates is that database selection depends on your needs. bitweaver ((DatabaseSupport|supports)) many databases via the ((ADODBSupport|ADODB)) database abstraction layer. This allows you to choose a database that fits your site's requirements - be it performance, financial, stability, or any combination there of.
|
| +What this illustrates is that database selection depends on your needs. bitweaver supports many databases via the [http://adodb.sourceforge.net|ADODB] database abstraction layer. This allows you to choose a database that fits your site's requirements - be it performance, financial, stability, or any combination there of. |
|
|
| !MySQL
|
|
|
| -((MySQLSupport|MySQL)) is probably the most popular database when counting by unique installations. This little database is a highly functional, entry-level database. It is completely open-source, and has excellent support on almost all operating systems (particularly good Windows support). However, once your data needs become more serious, it quickly falls short due to lack of native ACID compliance (true transactions), triggers, foreign keys, stored procedures, and more. Its speed is often touted as being a benefit, however, given its lack of features (particularly transactions), it is often an unfair comparison.
|
| +MySQL is probably the most popular database when counting by unique installations. This little database is a highly functional, entry-level database. It is completely open-source, and has excellent support on almost all operating systems (particularly good Windows support). However, once your data needs become more serious, it quickly falls short due to lack of native ACID compliance (true transactions), triggers, foreign keys, stored procedures, and more. Its speed is often touted as being a benefit, however, given its lack of features (particularly transactions), it is often an unfair comparison. |
|
|
| (:exclaim:) If you are using UNIX, i strongly encourage using PostgreSQL over MySQL. I have personally had the "myisam" tables [http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Corrupted_MyISAM_tables.html|corrupt] on me several times. Uh... if you can't trust your database with your data...
|
|
|
| -MySQL has finally offered sub-selects in version 4.1 which finally shipped in October 2004. These are great new features, however, data integrity features have a long way to go. MySQL 3.23 is still the standard release on nearly all linux's, so check your distro.
|
| +MySQL has finally offered sub-selects in version 4.1 which finally shipped in October 2004. These are great new features, however, data integrity features have a long way to go. |
|
|
| Also, for company websites, Mysql is not free, the commercial license kicks in. While postgreSQL is BSD license, just like Apache.
|
|
|