database connectivity

[Nick Belshaw]

David Metzler wrote:

> work on Windows 98/NT and on Linux. The idea is I can slip the programs in

I can help with a little info on Linux but not NT

> I also am interested on comparing MySql with Postgres. It looks like
> Postgres will only work on NT. Now I'm thinking that I would be better off
> using Linux as the server from the start and make the client program cross
> platform.

As far as I knew, I thought Postgres only ran on Unix systems !!
It certainly runs well on Linux - very impressively. So if it runs on NT aswell
!!!!

> The only problem is that now I have to find out how to make the connection
> with both windows and Linux to the Linux server. And of course I cannot take
> the project with me on a single Win 98 notebook to work on, when on the
> road.

I am playing with Postgres on Linux - accessed via Zope which lets it run on a
single Server
with access from anywhere. But of course Postgres is a distributed system
anyway so.....

> Is what I want to do possible or is Python just for "C" programmers or text
> parsing?
> For example is Python the right tool to create an inventory program?

I haven't touched C (other than for little twiddly bits) since I found Python.
It is great for large and small jobs - very neat  (with its invisible block
delimiters and indented syntax).

For an inventory prog? - you might find Zope rather neat...standard browser
frontend which everyone understands now.

just some random thoughts - hope it helps

cheers
Nick

--
Dr Nick Belshaw                                    Dept of Earth Sciences
Tel : 01865 272000                                 Oxford University
Fax : 01865 272072                                 Parks Rd, Oxford, OX2 3PR