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PostgreSQL is more popular than MySQL

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21–30 of 51 posts

Re: PostgreSQL is more popular than MySQL

#22
post #12

This survey (which seems more thorough) has MySQL ahead of Postgres: http://db-engines.com/en/ranking Ranking methodology: http://db-engines.com/en/ranking_definition Google trends also shows MySQL above Postgres in popularity: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%2Fm%2F05ynw%2C%20mys...

I legitimately don't understand how Oracle remains so popular.

I mean, I use it at work, but that is because this project dates back to the late 1980s(!) and decisions were made 20+ years ago.

It doesn't even support a Boolean type(!), costs a ton (over 2x MS SQL, 4x Postgres), passwords are limited to 30 characters, up until 2007 passwords were case insensitive, error feedback is "basic," and the syntax is horrific.

Oh and don't get me started on how poorly Oracle maps to programming languages. number(9,0) and number(18,0) is not an intuitive way to map into int32 and int64!

Microsoft's bigint, int, smallint for 64, 32, 16 respectively is far more intuitive.

Re: PostgreSQL is more popular than MySQL

#23
post #4

Well, I'm sure on a site about RDBMSes, you're gonna get some skewed results. In the wild, MySQL sees higher use than PostgreSQL. That said, as an old coworker would say, MySQL is the PHP of RDBMSes. Ubiquitous, gets the job done, and works well mostly. Of course it does horrendous comparisons, conversions, and mutilations of data. Exactly the thing a database should not do.

Usage and popularity is not the same thing though, even if they are all to often conflated.

I use MySQL and absolutely hate it.

Re: PostgreSQL is more popular than MySQL

#25

The ability to spin up and sync a follower db, for eventual cut over... man I'd kill for that in MySQL.

Others have replied with basically the same thing but replication has been in MySQL for a long time. Just last night I set up replication for a single MySQL server to a new 3-node Galera cluster then switched over the Galera cluster as the primary with only a few seconds of downtime. The downtime could have been entirely eliminated if the standalone MySQL server had binary logging enabled already.

Galera cluster is an awesome multi-master solution and I've had nothing but excellent experience with it in production environments. We currently typically direct writes at a single node and spread reads in round-robin to all three nodes using an HAProxy front-end to the cluster, but there is nothing preventing us from spreading writes across the cluster if it was needed. If the current write node goes down there is only a couple seconds of interruption as a new write node is elected and the application reconnects. Furthermore, if a node goes down rejoining is completely automatic once it starts back up with no slowdown in reads and writes. I don't have near as much PostgreSQL experience but replication and failover have been serious pain points from an operations stand-point when I have had to use it. I appreciate the end-user features of PostgreSQL, but operationally MySQL/MariaDB (plus Galera cluster) are miles ahead of anything I've seen for PostgreSQL.

Re: PostgreSQL is more popular than MySQL

#26
post #23
post #4

Well, I'm sure on a site about RDBMSes, you're gonna get some skewed results. In the wild, MySQL sees higher use than PostgreSQL. That said, as an old coworker would say, MySQL is the PHP of RDBMSes. Ubiquitous, gets the job done, and works well mostly. Of course it does horrendous comparisons, conversions, and mutilations of data. Exactly the thing a database should not do.

Usage and popularity is not the same thing though, even if they are all to often conflated. I use MySQL and absolutely hate it.

When did I conflate the two? For that matter, how do you measure "popularity" of a piece of software? You could just as well say a piece of software is popular because everyone knows and loves it or because everyone uses it and hates it. Webster gives you "liked or enjoyed by many people" and "accepted, followed, used, or done by many people".

Re: PostgreSQL is more popular than MySQL

#27
post #12

This survey (which seems more thorough) has MySQL ahead of Postgres: http://db-engines.com/en/ranking Ranking methodology: http://db-engines.com/en/ranking_definition Google trends also shows MySQL above Postgres in popularity: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%2Fm%2F05ynw%2C%20mys...

I legitimately don't understand how Oracle remains so popular. I mean, I use it at work, but that is because this project dates back to the late 1980s(!) and decisions were made 20+ years ago. It doesn't even support a Boolean type(!), costs a ton (over 2x MS SQL, 4x Postgres), passwords are limited to 30 characters, up until 2007 passwords were case insensitive, error feedback is "basic," and the syntax is horrific.…

Once you're married to an RDBMS, it's difficult to move off. And Oracle was first to the market.

If you're a F500 with your general ledger in Oracle, it's just easier to pay a few million dollars for a known evil than to spend who knows how much to replace it with a raft of potential difficulties during a migration project.

After working with it for a few years I hate Oracle as much as the next developer, but most of the time business decisions are made for business reasons, not technical reasons.

Re: PostgreSQL is more popular than MySQL

#28
post #12

This survey (which seems more thorough) has MySQL ahead of Postgres: http://db-engines.com/en/ranking Ranking methodology: http://db-engines.com/en/ranking_definition Google trends also shows MySQL above Postgres in popularity: http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%2Fm%2F05ynw%2C%20mys...

I legitimately don't understand how Oracle remains so popular. I mean, I use it at work, but that is because this project dates back to the late 1980s(!) and decisions were made 20+ years ago. It doesn't even support a Boolean type(!), costs a ton (over 2x MS SQL, 4x Postgres), passwords are limited to 30 characters, up until 2007 passwords were case insensitive, error feedback is "basic," and the syntax is horrific.…

Mm, my understanding is that it's for a few reasons:

- Oracle have good name recognition (no one ever fired for using Oracle), presumably an army of support people, well trained consultants, etc. - Postgres traditionally has not been as perforrmant, which makes it less useful for very large datasets. - Furthermore Oracle perf can usually be improved further by hinting properly, which is not possible in Postgres. Certainly moving like-for-like onto postgres simply led to perf regressions.

I'm not an expert, but those were my main takeaways from talking to people who are.

Re: PostgreSQL is more popular than MySQL

#29
post #23
post #4

Well, I'm sure on a site about RDBMSes, you're gonna get some skewed results. In the wild, MySQL sees higher use than PostgreSQL. That said, as an old coworker would say, MySQL is the PHP of RDBMSes. Ubiquitous, gets the job done, and works well mostly. Of course it does horrendous comparisons, conversions, and mutilations of data. Exactly the thing a database should not do.

Usage and popularity is not the same thing though, even if they are all to often conflated. I use MySQL and absolutely hate it.

Popularity doesn't really mean "well liked" in this context, though.

Re: PostgreSQL is more popular than MySQL

#30
post #26
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usage and popularity is not the same thing though, even if they are all to often conflated. I use MySQL and absolutely hate it.

When did I conflate the two? For that matter, how do you measure "popularity" of a piece of software? You could just as well say a piece of software is popular because everyone knows and loves it or because everyone uses it and hates it. Webster gives you "liked or enjoyed by many people" and "accepted, followed, used, or done by many people".

I think yxhuvud is agreeing with you, as would I. The original poll is conflating the two concepts.
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