Re: [HACKERS] custom types and optimization

> I'd like to get postgres up to speed.  I know it is a great database,
> and I tell all my friends this, but there is too much pg bashing
> because of the early days.  People think mysql rocks because it is so
> fast, but in reality, well..  It's all IMHO, and the right tool for
> the right job.

Yes, you're right. mysql is a lighter-weight system, without some of the
fundamental capabilities of postgres, but well suited to some
applications. Postgres is a "real database" (from David Gould :) with
more capabilities and more machine cycles needed to get those
capabilities.

> So my real question is: have we hit the limit on optimization and
> reduction of overhead, or is there more work to be done?  Or should we
> concentrate on other aspects such as inheritance issues?  I'm not
> quite as interested in ANSI compliance.

I think that v6.4 will have a good chunk of SQL92 compliance finished
off, and that other topics will become more actively developed in future
releases. Just guessing, but the area of postgres which has had the
fewest fundamental changes is in the backend executor. Or I should say
that the ripest place for more changes and improvements is in that area,
since I know that Vadim, Bruce, and others have been working on it for
some time.

There are some data integrity features that Vadim is planning on working
on which should/may improve performance by allowing you to trade
performance for transactional integrity. For some applications this
would allow you to burn fewer cycles on the same query, getting similar
data integrity to what mysql might provide for example.

If you're looking for areas to work on, array handling needs to be fixed
up (hint hint)...

                         - Tom