[Webdev] [Fwd: [ILUG] MySQL vs PostgreSQL]

[Adam Beecher]

> Depends on what you do.  If your definition of web development is
> writing webpages with a bit of interactive content then no, you
> probably won't need transactions, but if you're writing applications
> with mysql which just happen to have web based front ends, then
> transactions would often be useful.  Also, you can sort of replicate
> some aspects of transactions in your code, but you won't get the full
> functionality and it'll be an awful kludge.
>
> Of course, you can't really have the speed of Mysql with transactions,
> so you've got to decide which you need most...
>
Oh absolutely, but I think - well, I hope - that the reason the MySQL developers
haven't jumped in and implemented transactions fully is that they don't want to
compromise the speed of MySQL, which is of course its biggest positive. For my
own part though, I've found that I'm moving away from bits and bobs of
interactivity here and there, and making entire sites "applications". Even the
small sites benefit from it now, because it makes it easier for us - the
developers that is - to recreate or update the sites, and easier - and of course
cheaper in the long run - to the client, because administration and
redevelopment work is minimised. But of course, that adds to the up-front costs,
which is hard to explain to the client.

adam