RE: Mysql comparison

On Mon, 26 Apr 1999, Vince Vielhaber wrote:

...

Also, it says that postgresql is not multithreaded--what exactly does
that mean? Does that mean it can only handle one query at a time? That
seems very strange.

There is more than one way of doing more than one thing at a time.
Multithreading is one way, and multiprocessing is another.

BTW, even though MySQL is multithreaded, any thread that modifies a
table (update, delete, insert) will block all other threads on that table
until it completes.

Therefore, multithreading or multiprocessing has little to do with any
parallelism a rdms may utilize. You have to look deeper.

--
==========================================================================
Vince Vielhaber -- KA8CSH email: vev@michvhf.com flame-mail: /dev/null
# include <std/disclaimers.h> TEAM-OS2
Online Campground Directory http://www.camping-usa.com
Online Giftshop Superstore http://www.cloudninegifts.com
==========================================================================

Tom

Moved to hackers. It's probably the best place. As to the comparison,
I just started looking into that this mourning with a question from
someone else - with luck we'll have something there around the 6.5 release.

Why don't you have a comparison with MySQL in your chart? I guess I ran
into MySQL first, so perhaps it's a result of my experience, but I've
seen MySQL as the closest thing to PostgreSQL's market as they are both
open source (to a certain extent) and freely available.

afaik MySQL is freely available for non-commercial use only.

At least do you have any idea how fast postgresql is compared to MySQL?

Since MySQL does not provide transactions, perhaps the most
fundamental *required* feature for a relational database, it may be
faster for simple queries on small databases. Since Postgres has an
optimizer, transactions, etc. it should perform better on large
queries and on complex transactions. But ymmv.

Also, it says that postgresql is not multithreaded--what exactly does
that mean? Does that mean it can only handle one query at a time? That
seems very strange.

... And intentionally misleading. What it means is that the MySQL
folks are providing disinformation and have no apparent interest in
doing otherwise. Since it is a commercial product, you had better be
ready for marketing BS from them.

The last time I looked, their "features comparison", labeled "Crash
Me" !, had a 5-20% error rate on the facts, and that is only for those
Postgres features I was familiar with. Who knows how correct the
comparisons are for other DBs?

Check the archives for previous discussions...

- Tom

--
Thomas Lockhart lockhart@alumni.caltech.edu
South Pasadena, California

Hello!

On Tue, 27 Apr 1999, Thomas Lockhart wrote:

afaik MySQL is freely available for non-commercial use only.

No, MySQL is free for any use. The only exception is you cannot bundle
it with a commercial product.

- Tom

--
Thomas Lockhart lockhart@alumni.caltech.edu
South Pasadena, California

Oleg.
----
Oleg Broytmann http://members.xoom.com/phd2/ phd2@earthling.net
Programmers don't die, they just GOSUB without RETURN.

You totally missed on this one. It was on the POSTGRESQL SITE that said
that postgresql is not multithreaded! On the comparison chart comparing
postgresql with other databases, oracle and sybase are the only ones
listed as multithreaded.

Is my face red :(

I'll save the MySQL diatribe for later...

- Tom

--
Thomas Lockhart lockhart@alumni.caltech.edu
South Pasadena, California

You totally missed on this one. It was on the POSTGRESQL SITE that said
that postgresql is not multithreaded! On the comparison chart comparing
postgresql with other databases, oracle and sybase are the only ones
listed as multithreaded.

Is my face red :(

I'll save the MySQL diatribe for later...

My experience is that MySQL has gotten better at being more honest.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026