Why Should You Use MySQL?

http://www.jeremymorgan.com/blog/programming/why-use-mysql/

by Ramonaxvh • 13 years ago

33 36 13 years ago

twerquie2• 13 years ago

MySQL is to Postgres today as mSQL was to MySQL in 1998; more popular yet technologically inferior. In another 15 years, we will be having the same arguments about PostgreSQL and the thing that comes to replace it, whatever that may be.

MySQL is in production and we have to live with it. The defences in the linked article are all valid. MySQL is a very sharp tool and can be used effectively. But its time has passed. Start your new projects on a more solid footing.

taligent3• 13 years ago

Your analogy and your point is misguided. In another 15 years. MySQL will be legacy and PostgreSQL will be a footnote in history.

Because what you fail to understand is that people aren't switching from SQL to SQL they are switching to NoSQL and doing so en masse. Have you not seen the huge array of NoSQL options that weren't available 15 years ago e.g. MongoDB, CouchBase, Riak, Cassandra, HBase, Redis. And the upcoming trend is going to be in Graph databases e.g. Neo4J.

freshhawk• 13 years ago

Bit of a filter bubble effect going on here.

sadmysqluser3• 13 years ago

You're mistaken if you think MySQL and PostgreSQL and the other databases are simply going to stand still during that time and you're also mistaken if you think applications which work with the SQL model will be abandoned before a better model is found.

My prediction is that every SQL and NoSQL system you mention will evolve towards being producers and consumers of SQL and NoSQL interfaces. I.e. like SQLite4 over KV, or Oracle memcache over InnoDB.

calinet62• 13 years ago

Data doesn't magically become non-relational with time.

twerquie2• 13 years ago

Trends are trends. ACID-compliant databases will always have their place.

yummyfajitas• 13 years ago

1 reason to use MySQL rather than Postgres:

1) Your legacy shared hosting site might provide MySQL and not Postgres.

There are also 9 reasons to choose one of {Postgres, MySQL} over {Oracle, SQL Server}.

Here is 1 reason to use Postgres: data integrity.

"00/00/0000 00:00:00.0000" is not a real date, but MySQL will helpfully insert it into your table if you try to insert NULL into a non-null datetime field. (One example among many.)

coderdude• 13 years ago

One thing that bugs me is MySQL will truncate a value if the column can't hold it all and will only issue a warning (by default?). Although in most instances I've already done the foot work of checking a value's length, it would be nice to be able to throw an exception when it occurs. Of course that could be the choice of my framework and not MySQL's fault.

AaronBBrown4• 13 years ago

  SET sql_mode = 'STRICT_ALL_TABLES';

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/server-sql-mode.html#...

Yes, it's not default. Yes, it can be overridden. Yes, that bothers a lot of people.

camus• 13 years ago

1) is not even valid in my opinion , if the shared host doesnt provide at least postgre , it is not worth it.

The only reason to go with mysql is when one uses a CMS that is tied to mysql ( wordpress for instance or several ecommerce scripts).

Otherwise there is no need to stick to MYSQL.

willlll• 13 years ago

That's not even a good reason. Pick a better CMS.

taligent3• 13 years ago

2) Clustering e.g. multi-master solution.

3) Decent monitoring.

4) Commercial support.

And your argument about data integrity is valid but in the real world moot. Most developers are using an ORM these days which abstract problems like these away.

rosser4• 13 years ago

4) Commercial support.

EnterpriseDB, Command Prompt, 2nd Quadrant, and all the others listed under http://www.postgresql.org/support/professional_support/

Many of those companies have people on staff who are members of the PostgreSQL core committee, or at least have commit bits. Can MySQL say the same?

If your response is going to be "But that's not commercial support from 'PostgreSQL' itself", that's the nature of the community. It was a deliberate choice by the community to structure itself that way: PostgreSQL — the community, the brand, or whatever you want to call it — can't be sold. This is a good thing, and I don't think I need to waste much time explaining why...

vor_• 13 years ago

With all due respect, it's presumptuous of you to act as if you have a better grasp on the real world than other developers or that you have direct knowledge of what most developers use.

EugeneOZ• 13 years ago

multi-master in MySQL?

rimantas• 13 years ago

And if you don't want this kind of helpfulness, check out http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/server-sql-mode.html

JeremyMorgan• 13 years ago

I was just going to submit this and found it was already submitted, thanks. Curious to see how others are going to tear my case apart on this one.

andrewcooke• 13 years ago

not tearing you apart, just a small correction - it's spelt PostgreSQL (small "g") - http://www.postgresql.org/

Legion• 13 years ago

I was expecting a more compelling case.

berlinbrown2• 13 years ago

A lot of people use it. It is the Java of databases.

Ironically, Oracle also is connected to Java.

taligent3• 13 years ago

> It is the Java of databases.

That makes absolutely no sense what so ever. Java is the dominate enterprise development platform.

MySQL is most popular in non-enteprise environments.

toddh2• 13 years ago

RDS as a scaling strategy is also a good reason.

AaronBBrown4• 13 years ago

RDS isn't really that great as a scaling strategy. It's only marginally easier to keep running than your own dedicated MySQL instances and it's far less flexible, particularly for disaster recovery since there is no way to do cross-region replication.

toddh2• 13 years ago

Marginally for who and it what scenarios? Features like Provisioned IOPS and Multi-AZ deployment with failover and read replicas make it quite attractive for a project without a lot of dedicated staff. So it's great strategy depending on what you want to do.

sadmysqluser3• 13 years ago

Personally I prefer PostGreSQL over MySQL for a drop in replacement on Linux based systems. It’s far superior in many ways, and something you should consider if you’re able to. Personally if I were to start a new business or had a Linux based environment and was in the planning phase I would choose PostGreSQL from the start. But it’s not always the best option for most people.

What a crappy defense.

There is little I like about MySQL but here's a few reasons I still recommend people use it:

1. It's already part of something delivering value to your business. E.g. Nagios, MediaWiki or some other LAMP stack solution you've deployed. It's there. You're using it. Learn to live with it, and be sure to BACK IT UP!

2. You need to work with data someone gave you that came from a MySQL system. E.g. a Wikipedia dump. Someone else already lived the pain of collecting data into MySQL, now all you need to do is refine it.

3. You're publishing data for someone else to load into their MySQL system (e.g. a Pentaho warehouse).

calinet62• 13 years ago

In other words, the reason to use it is if you're already using it.

AaronBBrown4• 13 years ago

Yes...this.

Another thing that is often overlooked is tiered slaves in conjunction with logical replication for adding OLAP to an OLTP infrastructure. This allows you to have additional reporting data on slaves that is not present on the master and along with real-time replication, eliminating or simplifying nightly batch processing. This also allows you to keep a very small working set available on the master database with slaves that contain the full archive. In conjunction with BLACKHOLE tables, this can be very powerful.

bsg75• 13 years ago

> You don’t need to hire a group of certified DBAs to run a MySQL database. An ordinary programmer can learn enough to maintain their database servers for most applications.

There is a reason why I, as someone whose experience in principally in data management, does not "write applications" - I might be able to write something that works, but it will likely lack security, stability, scalability. The same things happen with app developers, without an equivalent of database expertise, will make similar mistakes.

You may need a team of "certified" DBAs, but you need someone to guide the development of a stable foundation.

tveita• 13 years ago

These are all reasons why you'll do fine with MySQL if you're stuck with it, but they don't give a compelling reason to choose MySQL over e.g. PostgreSQL.

One thing I like about MySQL is the support available from third parties like Percona - I'll also recommend the book "High Performance MySQL", which gives some great details on performance tuning and query optimizing.

I'm not familiar with the offers for PostgreSQL - I'd like to hear what support services and books people with PostgreSQL experience would recommend.

rosser4• 13 years ago

For support, peruse the list for your continent at:

http://www.postgresql.org/support/professional_support/

For books, among the most important is Greg Smith's "PostgreSQL 9.0 High Peformance", but really, just search Amazon for "PostgreSQL" and browse the titles until you find one that matches your needs.

Personally, I've been working with postgres for a decade now. Most of what I've needed, I've just gotten from searching a/o asking on the mailing lists.

Why Should You Use MySQL?

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