[vox-tech] oracle -> MySQL conversion

[David Hummel]

On Wed, Apr 28, 2004 at 07:58:13PM -0700, Michael Wenk wrote:
> 
> On Wednesday 28 April 2004 05:29 pm, David Hummel wrote:
> >
> > I do agree that the decision should be based on features that you
> > actually need (and many people aren't aware of what they need).  If
> > you need rock-solid transactions, triggers, stored procedures,
> > inheritance, etc., use Postgres.  If your main requirements are
> > speed and ease of administration, go with MySQL.
> 
> I disagree with the admin part.  MySQL is no easier IMO to run than
> postgres.

In general, I find that the client and admin tools in MySQL are a
bit easier to deal with than the equivalent Postgres ones.

> where you really get the benefit from MySQL is speed.

Yes, it seems the consensus is that MySQL is faster than Postgres, and
I've seen it first hand.  But I feel the speed issue is often
exaggerated and not necessarily true in every situation.  It really
depends on your schema design, how much data your dealing with, what
kind of queries you need to do, etc.  I've seen several cases where
Postgres performed better than MySQL for certain queries, and vice
versa.

The point is, make the decision based on the requirements of your
applications and how they need to interact with the database.  Don't
dwell too much on the speed issue.  To aid in the decision, you can
always design portable applications and test them using both systems.
Portability between MySQL and PostgreSQL is not that difficult to
accomplish if you're careful.

> Unless you need triggers or have an app that specifically and totally
> won't run on anything other than postgres, I would steer clear of it. 

Although it appears MySQL performs better in a majority of cases, it's a
bit rash to suggest steering clear of Postgres on the speed issue alone.
I suggest trying out both systems, which is the ultimate ACID test (pun
intended).

-David