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Is it possible HN has a very strong bias on web developers? Because in "serious business" or at least in my case in finance, you almost always find Oracle and D

by kahawe 15y ago

Is it possible HN has a very strong bias on web developers? Because in "serious business" or at least in my case in finance, you almost always find Oracle and DB2 being the leading DBs and maybe Sybase and maybe-maybe mysql or mssql but hardly ever postgre no matter how awesome it is and definitely never-ever something hip and cool and latest-fashion/fad like Mongo or Couch.

zacharypinter 15y ago
At the very least, I'd say it has a bias towards younger/smaller companies for whom the price point of Oracle/DB2 doesn't make sense.
- patrickaljord 15y ago
  As a younger/smaller companies, I wouldn't use Oracle/DB2 even if it was free. Happy mongodb user here.
  - kahawe 15y ago
    As someone who has worked in young, small and medium, old and larger companies: I wouldn't use mongo/couch outside of non-critical webapps even if I was paid to do so and for my own (cynic) understanding, it is as much a "database" as a folder with clear text files is. Yes, Oracle is big, bad and "ebil" and I cannot stand their sales drones.. but if you ever had an "oh CRAP" moment, chances are very good that the db has got your back. Of course it also has its downsides like any other huge software product...
    - patrickaljord 15y ago
      Adsense runs on mysql, how non-critical is that?
      - kahawe 15y ago
        I was talking about mongo and couch, not MySQL.
    - patrickaljord 15y ago
      Adsense runs on mysql, how non-critical is that?
    - rcrowley 15y ago
      Mongo is by many measures worse than "a folder with clear text files."
nandemo 15y ago
I think the bias is huge. In my experience, if you go thru current job listings for developers you'll find a ton of mentions of Oracle, SQL Server and MySQL and, to a lesser extent, DB2 and PostgreSQL (though of course job ads are biased too).
Impossible 15y ago
HN does have a strong web developer bias. Afaik I know most major massively multiplayer online games (like World of Warcraft for example) use Oracle. I worked on a game a few years ago that started with MySQL, and switched over to Oracle during development. This is probably only true in larger high budget games though. Social games and f2p games probably use MySQL (or NoSQL) databases because there is a lot more overlap with web development in those worlds.
- ianl 15y ago
  Eve online uses mssql, however it is no longer their primary bottleneck from what I've read on the dev blogs in the last few years.
ams6110 15y ago
It would appear so. The poll question is basically meaningless anyway, as it leaves out "for what purpose." I'm going to have different criteria for storing web app session data than I am storing financial transactions that are subject to audit.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
frankwiles 15y ago
I've consulted for many a serious finance company using PG, sure Oracle et al are the main ones, but I've never run across MySQL in those kinds of shops doing anything significant. Granted, I'm a PG consultant.

by kahawe 15y ago

zacharypinter 15y ago

At the very least, I'd say it has a bias towards younger/smaller companies for whom the price point of Oracle/DB2 doesn't make sense.

patrickaljord 15y ago
As a younger/smaller companies, I wouldn't use Oracle/DB2 even if it was free. Happy mongodb user here.
- kahawe 15y ago
  As someone who has worked in young, small and medium, old and larger companies: I wouldn't use mongo/couch outside of non-critical webapps even if I was paid to do so and for my own (cynic) understanding, it is as much a "database" as a folder with clear text files is. Yes, Oracle is big, bad and "ebil" and I cannot stand their sales drones.. but if you ever had an "oh CRAP" moment, chances are very good that the db has got your back. Of course it also has its downsides like any other huge software product...
  - patrickaljord 15y ago
    Adsense runs on mysql, how non-critical is that?
    - kahawe 15y ago
      I was talking about mongo and couch, not MySQL.
  - patrickaljord 15y ago
    Adsense runs on mysql, how non-critical is that?
  - rcrowley 15y ago
    Mongo is by many measures worse than "a folder with clear text files."

nandemo 15y ago

I think the bias is huge. In my experience, if you go thru current job listings for developers you'll find a ton of mentions of Oracle, SQL Server and MySQL and, to a lesser extent, DB2 and PostgreSQL (though of course job ads are biased too).

Impossible 15y ago

HN does have a strong web developer bias. Afaik I know most major massively multiplayer online games (like World of Warcraft for example) use Oracle. I worked on a game a few years ago that started with MySQL, and switched over to Oracle during development. This is probably only true in larger high budget games though. Social games and f2p games probably use MySQL (or NoSQL) databases because there is a lot more overlap with web development in those worlds.

ianl 15y ago
Eve online uses mssql, however it is no longer their primary bottleneck from what I've read on the dev blogs in the last few years.

ams6110 15y ago

It would appear so. The poll question is basically meaningless anyway, as it leaves out "for what purpose." I'm going to have different criteria for storing web app session data than I am storing financial transactions that are subject to audit.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

frankwiles 15y ago

I've consulted for many a serious finance company using PG, sure Oracle et al are the main ones, but I've never run across MySQL in those kinds of shops doing anything significant. Granted, I'm a PG consultant.