Why Uber Engineering Switched from Postgres to MySQL (2016)

Post by denysvitali » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 1:22 PM UTC

Proziam wrote: post #34

blowski wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel that pain! I knew MySQL so well that it felt risky to use a different database, yet if I used it on a non-serious project, how would I get real-world experience? I learned a lot from a book from one of the core contributors to Postgres - https://theartofpostgresql.com/ . It has actual real world examples with realistic datasets to experiment with.

I wish this resource existed (or that I knew it existed if it did) years ago. I always seem to learn about the things that would have made my life easier after I've already done things the hard way.

Post by chris_wot » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 1:23 PM UTC

eznzt wrote: post #20

oftenwrong wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Schemas are similar to databases in mysql. They serve as a namespace. In mysql you can have a database `foo` and a table `foo.bar`. In postgres you can have a schema `foo` and a table `foo.bar`. In postgres you can have multiple databases in a cluster, and multiple schemas within each of those databases.

What you are basically saying is that yes, they are much more complex.

Post by nkozyra » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

blowski wrote: post #19

I spent a whole decade saying "Why do I need Postgres? MySQL is fine." Started using Postgres a couple of years ago, and I now can't believe I ever lived without window functions, native arrays, custom types, etc.

Post by vinger » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 2:33 PM UTC

corty wrote: post #12

consp wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the US uses a weird date format, I definitely prefer the former in combination with input sanitation forcing you to thing about your actions before assuming the database will fix it for you.

Agreed. As with strong typing in programming languages, I do prefer a database to be strict in rejecting invalid inputs. MySQL does two bad things here: It accepts an invalid input plus it interprets it creatively, producing something the user most probably didn't intend. In that respect, MySQL is almost as bad as Excel creatively "interpreting" dates. Another example of a database doing improper things would be Orac…

Post by vinger » Sat, Feb 27, 2021, 2:41 PM UTC

looperhacks wrote: post #18

eznzt wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just creating a new user is annoying enough. Permissions are also much more complex. What the hell are schemas?

How is creating a new user complicated? The normal CREATE USER is all I've ever needed to create a new user in postgres (assuming I don't have set up the pg_hba so that I need to allow every user separately)