Kwpolska <kwpol...@gmail.com> writes: > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 4:19 PM, Nick Cash > <nick.c...@npcinternational.com> wrote: > > MySQL would certainly be fine, although I always recommend > > PostgreSQL over it. > Bonus question, why?
The PostgreSQL community gets asked this question so often that they have a page with resources answering in various ways depending on what the reader needs to know <URL:https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/MySQL>. For me, the reasons are many. Some important ones: * MySQL happily alters data on input to the database, if it feels the need, without regard for data integrity. PostgreSQL has always valued the integrity of your data, rejecting invalid data before it can become an integrity problem. * MySQL has atrocious error messages and opaque error reporting, making it very difficult to figure out what has actually gone wrong with a command it doesn't like. PostgreSQL's error reporting is far clearer, helping pinpoint the location of the error. It also has an exception-raising mechanism that the programmer can use. * MySQL's development has suffered under Sun, and become virtually moribund under Oracle. They operate as a closed shop, occasionally tossing GPL-licensed releases over the wall, with very little input accepted from the community. PostgreSQL development has for a long time now been faster than MySQL's, and their community is far more open to contributors and bug reports. As a result, the development is much more community-focussed and addresses requests more directly. That latter point is a big flag that Oracle's MySQL is a dead end while PostgreSQL has a vibrant future. If only from the perspective of who's going to support you better in the long run, the choice is clear to me. -- \ “Alternative explanations are always welcome in science, if | `\ they are better and explain more. Alternative explanations that | _o__) explain nothing are not welcome.” —Victor J. Stenger, 2001-11-05 | Ben Finney -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
