Re: Beginner Questions Please: Which To Go With ?

On Fri, Mar 19, 2004 at 11:34:30AM -0500, Robert11 wrote:
> I downloaded postgre, but I am a bit stumped on
> what to do next.
> The problem is I'm totally unfamiliar with ftp downloads.
>
> There are a bunch of folders.
>
> What do I open, or do next, please, to get started ?

What operating system are you using?  Windows?  If so, and you are
this new at it, I suspect you'll find PostgreSQL to be a little
tricky to use.  In any case, the instructions for installation are in
the PostgreSQL manual at http://www.postgresql.org.  If you can't
follow the instructions, or get stumped, you should come back with a
question about the point where you're stuck.

> Also: what are the major differences between all 3 packages ?

Access is not a real SQL database, but it has some SQL interface
glued onto it.

MySQL was historically very lightweight and missing quite a few
features.  It is much improved, but continues to have interfaces
which, while initially apparently convenient, are sufficiently
different from the standard way of doing things that you may
experience a lot of pain later.

PostgreSQL is a larger system intented for "industrial strength"
systems.  Having used all three of these, it is the only one among
them that I feel actually comfortable trusting data to.  This is a
prejudice I developed on older versions of MySQL, however, and it is
probably not well justified any more.  PostgreSQL has the steepest
learning curve: you will need to learn a fair amount about what you
are doing before you can do anything useful.  On the other hand, that
initial investment pays handsomely later.

> Which would be easiest to learn for a true database beginner ?

Probably Access.  It's also the least likely to teach you the best
database habits, so I'd urge you to consider the additional work for
Postgres, just because you'll get a good grounding in fundamentals
that way.  Postgres is the most rigid of the systems, in that it
usually has a smaller number of well-defined ways to do something.

--
Andrew Sullivan  | ajs@crankycanuck.ca
This work was visionary and imaginative, and goes to show that visionary
and imaginative work need not end up well.
        --Dennis Ritchie