Using Python for business app development

[Karl A. Krueger]

Cameron Laird <claird at lairds.com> wrote:
> In article <7876a8ea.0212240823.43f03f0b at posting.google.com>,
> David Rushby <woodsplitter at rocketmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>There's no need to stoop to MySQL if you require Windows support.
> 
> At least a couple contributors to this thread have denigrated
> MySQL's capabilities.  While my own background includes far
> more experience with PostgreSQL, and I'm accustomed to dismis-
> sing MySQL as rather a toy, it's come a long way through the
> years.  The latest releases, for example, include good trans-
> actional features.  Therefore I ask those who have disparaged
> MySQL what specific deficiencies they see.

I'm not a database expert, but I've written some smallish database-
backed programs in Python.  Here's what put -me- off MySQL:

As I understand it, MySQL does not support relational integrity
assurance, e.g. foreign key constraints.  That is to say, there is no
way using MySQL to ensure ahead of time that an application bug cannot
leave the database in an inconsistent or meaningless state.  When there
are multiple clients altering the database, it's incredibly valuable
that the database itself can keep its facts straight.  (Otherwise, why
bother with something as complex as a DBMS?  SQL isn't that much fun.)

Also, MySQL does not understand as complex of queries as PostgreSQL or
other SQL DBMSes do.  For instance, the current stable version does not
support subqueries.  (The development alphas do, though.)  This means
that one must use temporary tables where usual SQL texts suggest
subqueries.

I'm also put off MySQL by its developers' and advocates' past confusion
(to say it charitably) regarding its limitations.  For instance, back
when MySQL did not support transactions, its developers told prospective
users that most everything that transactions get you can be done in the
application.  The expression "atomicity without rollback" is a pretty
good example of the confusion that was being spread at that point.

	http://www.dbdebunk.com/qu071401.htm
	http://sdm.openacs.org/philosophy/why-not-mysql.html

-- 
Karl A. Krueger <kkrueger at example.edu>
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Email address is spamtrapped.  s/example/whoi/
"Outlook not so good." -- Magic 8-Ball Software Reviews