5 ms·
20-year career so far. Never seen a database swapped out. I've seen "apps" replaced on top of databases, or more programs added to access the same database. I'v
by handrous 5y ago
20-year career so far. Never seen a database swapped out. I've seen "apps" replaced on top of databases, or more programs added to access the same database. I've seen the app and database both get thrown out and replaced, because they were tightly coupled[0], as the parent advocates (Rails + ActiveRecord seems to be prime for this kind of "gotta throw it all out" situation). I've never seen the program stay the same while the DB is swapped out from under it.
[0] yes, that's actually tightly coupling them, because now your DB is too unsafe to use without the "app" you built on top, and doesn't provide enough functionality to make it worth trying to retrofit that safety onto it.
- williamdclt 5y agoI've seen it firsthand, but we're talking about an early-stage startup moving from MySQL to Postgres. It's definitely not enough to convince me not to use database-specific features.
- amichal 5y agoI’ve added an activrecord interface to an existing schema (on sql server no less). A lot of overriding of it’s assumptions and sometimes preventing writes via active record but it is doable.