Re: [htmltmpl] Re: eWeek Reviews Bricolage

[David W. <da...@ki...>]

On Aug 11, 2004, at 9:04 PM, Sam Tregar wrote:

> MySQL is, in my opinion, the best free database.  It's definitely
> better than PostgreSQL and I should know, I spent more than a year and
> a half working with it on the Bricolage project.  Of course, how one
> defines "better" is subjective.  Here are a few observations that come
> to mind:
>
>   - MySQL is more stable.  The developers of MySQL do an absolutely
>     amazing job vetting new releases before they're declared stable.
>     I encountered exactly one bug in MySQL while developing Krang.
>     Just one!  I don't have enough fingers to count all the bugs I saw
>     in PostgreSQL while working on Bricolage.

To whom did you report them? I don't recall you running into any bugs, 
only features you were used to in MySQL but were missing in PostgreSQL.

>   - MySQL is faster and easier to optimize when it's running slow.
>     Indexes just work 99% of the time, unlike PostgreSQL's lame VACUUM
>     ANALYZE run-around.

Huh? This is because MySQL doesn't keep statistics, which long term is 
to its detriment.  PostgreSQL 7.4 introduced pg_autovaucuum, and it is 
built-in to the server in 8.0, so now it's a no-brainer.

>   - MySQL is easier to master and harder to abuse.  The set of
>     supported commands is much smaller than most databases.  That
>     means it's harder to end up with a rat's nest of a database
>     schema.  Harder, but of course not impossible!

You also don't get any of the advantages of more advanced databases.

> Now, to be fair, PostgreSQL has a lot of features that aren't present
> in MySQL.  I tend to think most of them aren't all they're cracked up
> to be, but I understand that a reasonable person can disagree.

Yep. But this is old hat for you and me, isn't it? ;-)

> Sure, that too.  My constant refrain while I led the Krang's
> development was "YAGNI" - You Ain't Gonna Need It.  We definitely
> didn't need to support more than one DB, so we didn't.  If someone
> wants to come along and add PostgreSQL support, I think that's fine.
> I think it's about as likely as someone porting Bricolage to MySQL,
> but people talk about that all the time too!

Hrm, so Krang has embedded SQL like Bricolage? Pity. I would certainly 
never do that again.

Regards,

David