Indeed! Don't waste money on Oracle unless you're going to get a good DBA as well! About Java, I find that it's very modern in relation to C/C++...which is actually very refreshing. Object-oriented-programming with Java seems very natural, which is in stark contrast to the against the grain feel of C++. The use of unicode over ASCII I think is another more "modern" advantage of Java (even though it may imply some performance loss due to the increased size of character and string datatypes). The "write-once, run-anywhere" properties of Java certainly get the most press, but I think a lot of it is actually downplayed. Sure, Java is not the first language to be cross-platform without recompilation, but I think it's probably the most successful. Being able to take a servlet from a Solaris system and run it flawlessly on Windows NT is pretty impressive, I must admit. I think this is a major reason for Java's success on the server. While the public may be content with platform-bound applications, Developers have grown tired of endlessly porting code. The web is a cross-platform, "write-once, run-anywhere" application, so why can't the applications that power the web do the same? Seriously, though, if I sound like a University professor endlessly extolling the virtues of Java and OOP, please tell me to stop!;)
Basically, it's been said before and it will be said again, MySQL is a good read-only database. As soon as you start adding or modifying records, things change. The lack of transactions is a major issue for people handling a lot of changes. Beyond that, there are also just a large number of features MySQL simply sacrifices in the name of speed. Table-level locks are probably my biggest gripe. If you don't want to risk corruption, you've got to lock the table and as soon as you do that in MySQL, you essentially eliminate any concurrent access to that table. Oracle and many others support row-level locks. There are other issues too in terms of feature set. For example, the lack of stored-procedures, sub-selects, views, and so on can really limit the usefulness of the database under many circumstances.
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed! Don't waste money on Oracle unless you're going to get a good DBA as well! About Java, I find that it's very modern in relation to C/C++...which is actually very refreshing. Object-oriented-programming with Java seems very natural, which is in stark contrast to the against the grain feel of C++. The use of unicode over ASCII I think is another more "modern" advantage of Java (even though it may imply some performance loss due to the increased size of character and string datatypes). The "write-once, run-anywhere" properties of Java certainly get the most press, but I think a lot of it is actually downplayed. Sure, Java is not the first language to be cross-platform without recompilation, but I think it's probably the most successful. Being able to take a servlet from a Solaris system and run it flawlessly on Windows NT is pretty impressive, I must admit. I think this is a major reason for Java's success on the server. While the public may be content with platform-bound applications, Developers have grown tired of endlessly porting code. The web is a cross-platform, "write-once, run-anywhere" application, so why can't the applications that power the web do the same? Seriously, though, if I sound like a University professor endlessly extolling the virtues of Java and OOP, please tell me to stop! ;)
Basically, it's been said before and it will be said again, MySQL is a good read-only database. As soon as you start adding or modifying records, things change. The lack of transactions is a major issue for people handling a lot of changes. Beyond that, there are also just a large number of features MySQL simply sacrifices in the name of speed. Table-level locks are probably my biggest gripe. If you don't want to risk corruption, you've got to lock the table and as soon as you do that in MySQL, you essentially eliminate any concurrent access to that table. Oracle and many others support row-level locks. There are other issues too in terms of feature set. For example, the lack of stored-procedures, sub-selects, views, and so on can really limit the usefulness of the database under many circumstances.