Re: Slashdot discussion

On Mon, 10 Jul 2000, J.R. Belding wrote:

> PostgreSQL:
>
>
> Early on, it was quite a bit easier to find resources on the Internet
> pertaining to MySQL.  PostgreSQL info is out there, but I had to look a
> bit further to find it.  #mysql has much more activity than does
> #postgresql, and since I prefer this method of communication over
> mailing-lists, I found this to be very much in MySQL's favor.
>
> The MySQL installation was somewhat more straightforward, but I didn't
> find the PostgreSQL installation to be terribly intimidating.
>
> I found MySQL to be significantly easier to use, however, once I started
> experimenting with basic functionality.  Most tasks in MySQL were
> straightforward, so I was surprised to find that the same tasks in
> PostgreSQL required much more effort (for example dropping a column, or
> changing a column's data type).  Further, I ran across a web-based
> administrative program called WebMin that has a MySQL module. For a
> novice user like myself, this kind of GUI simplifies things tremendously
> and has really made working with MySQL much more pleasant in comparison.
>
> As I learned more about the advanced features PostgreSQL offered, I
> became concerned that MySQL might not be desirable for my application.
> But I shortly realized that while PostgreSQL includes support for
> advanced functionality such as Transactions, Subselects, Views, etc.,

transactions:

  begin;
  select <value> from table;
  update <value> in table;
  end;

subselect:

SELECT a.field
  FROM atable a, btable b
 WHERE a.key = b.key
   AND a.field2 IN ( SELECT field2
                       FROM ctable
                      WHERE field1 = value );

view:

CREATE VIEW a_field
SELECT a.field
  FROM atable a, btable b
 WHERE a.key = b.key
   AND a.field2 IN ( SELECT field2
                       FROM ctable
                      WHERE field1 = value );

next? :)

it makes even more sense if you can put it into context of something, but
you get the idea, I hope :)