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Why To Choose PostgreSQL Over MySQL, MariaDB (dice.com)
Nerval's Lobster writes: PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB are the three "main" open-source relational databases available today (there are four if you count FireBird, but for brevity we're excluding it). For years, MySQL had a reputation of being faster than PostgreSQL, but much of that was due to the MyISAM database engine, which didn't support transactions. On the flip side of things, PostgreSQL had a reputation for being slower but more reliable. But with the recent versions of both platforms, things have started to change; for example, speed has been less of a problem for PostgreSQL, while MySQL now defaults to the InnoDB engine, which does handle transactions. According to developer David Bolton, here's why PostgreSQL is worth a second look for your database-management needs (Dice link).
At least for me, the killer feature of PostgreSQL is its procedure language PL/pgSQL. By a fortunate accident, I had the opportunity to write some complicated features (read "calculation heavy") for a web app using PL/pgSQL. Once coupled with triggers, you can just leave everything to the DB to the point, controller has to do nothing except query and return JSON objects to the front. It is so expressive, powerful, efficient and reliable.
I have worked with MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL and as of late MongoDB.
Given a choice, I will always settle for PostgreSQL... it is just so natural to work with.
DBA's are known for being rational and objective when discussing competing RDBMSs, I'm looking forward to this discussion. Maybe next we could discuss which is better Islam, Christianity, or atheism.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
My software stores spacecraft testing data. Each test is good for a couple of gigabytes, and we run dozens each year. We use PostgreSQL because:
- Rock-solid stability. Zero data loss after a decade and a half of operations. Zero problems of _any kind_, over that same period.
- Great features and excellent standard conformance.
- Documentation is absolutely excellent, best of any open source project I know of.
- pgAdmin 3 allows trivial on-the-fly inspection of databases.
- No licensing issues. No payment "per core", "per connection", or whatever other bullshit they've come up with now. Install where we like, as much as we like.
We didn't choose MySQL because it lacked ACID compliance (data loss would be problematic), and because it has entirely too many weird gotchas. Sure, you can work around all of those... But why would you if you can also choose PostgreSQL?
As for Oracle, that's what we used before PostgreSQL. Back in the days, you couldn't store more than 2000 characters in a string, their C interface was the stuff of nightmares, support tools were non-existent, and installing it yourself, or on anything that wasn't the Blessed HPUX Cluster, was impossible. We had two (minor) data loss events in three years, but that might have been a hardware issue. But the killer reason is of course licensing - with Oracle, we had one server on which all work had to take place. Now we have dozens, and setting up an ad-hoc server for some quick testing is trivial - both technically, and in terms of licensing.
I can take a laptop to a customer site and do a demo or some work, without worrying about licensing. With Oracle you never know whether you are compliant or not, and being found to be non-compliant is extremely, extremely painful.
Everyone I know just calls it "Postgres".
This was its original name. It was the successor (Get it? "Post"?) to the RDBMS known as Ingres. There was some IP issue associated with the Postgres name when they went to open source it, so they gave it a new name: PostgreSQL. Yes, I agree it was a very poor choice, something only a true nerd would come up with.