> We've got a raging debate going on now on whether we should move from
a
> Foxpro back end to either PostgreSQL or MySQL.
Hello, I am a windows developer with several years development
experience with FoxPro. I loved foxpro (back in the day) and only moved
to a real SQL server because I was sick and tired of rebuilding
corrupted index files.
Prestige users aside, I can give you some real concrete reasons as to
why you will be happier migrating to PostgreSQL from Foxpro. The short
version is that pg offers many, many features which are important for
application development which are not present or incorrect/incomplete in
mysql.
Here is a (probably incomplete) list of why you should move to pg.
1. SQL passthrough: you can leverage your foxpro develop talent and
perhaps recover some of your older code using foxpro front end app and
postgres backend. (note: mysql offers the same advatanges)
2. Query optimizer: Foxpro has a world class query optimizer. IMO,
Postgres is the closest thing you are going to get in an open source
database.
3. Functional indexes: Many foxpro applications make heavy use of
functional indexes (ex: index on upper(customers) tag upp_custname). Pg
has a very similar (and standardized) way of offering the same power.
4. View support: foxpro has good support for views. In mysql, you will
miss them greatly.
There other things (too many to mention), but my personal experience
migrating to PostgreSQL + Delphi (using the excellent ZeosLib driver)
was a great success. Good luck!
Merlin