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> It's less featureful, and I'd consider that a strong virtue in the YAGNI camp - less to go wrong, less mental overhead. This doesn't really hold water in my

> It's less featureful, and I'd consider that a strong virtue in the YAGNI camp - less to go wrong, less mental overhead. This doesn't really hold water in my opinion. It's not like PostgreSQL is some minefield of misfeatures and quirky behavior. Some of these features exist, but have zero impact on you unless you actually opt to use them. But if you end up needing to: they're there, and you can just start using them. Compare this to MySQL where they simply don't exist no matter how much you may need them. Need to apply an index to the result of a function to quickly fix a performance issue in prod? Sorry, you can't. Need window functions to accurately compute some analytics in a sane period of time? Sorry, you can't. The list of things you can do in PostgreSQL that you simply can't with MySQL is massive and grows every day. The odds that you'll want, need, or greatly benefit at least one of these features is not small. Having the flexibility of knowing these features exist should you ever have a use-case for them is massive.

evanelias 3y ago
Your examples regarding MySQL's features are not correct. Need to apply an index to the result of a function? No problem, use a functional index, supported since October 2018: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/create-index.html#create-index-functional-key-parts https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/create-index.html#cr... Need to use a window function? No problem, supported since April 2018: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/window-functions.html https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/window-functions.htm...
- stouset 3y ago
  Fair. I picked two instances that had long been personally painful with MySQL and didn’t exist when I finally fled to greener pastures. There are far more examples than just those two though. :)
  - evanelias 3y ago
    Sure, and there are also plenty of examples of things MySQL can do that Postgres can't. There's no silver bullets in software or databases, no "one size fits all". Just various trade-offs between different design decisions.
    - 0xf8 3y ago
      I mean, for most mature ecosystems / technology stacks I think the “no one size fits all, just strategic design trade-offs” theory largely holds true as an objectively accurate account of the “choosing the best tool“ situation …. but IMO, I think it’s worth noting that occasionally, some rare unique and functionally superlative technology comes along that in practice transcends every alternative from the onset and indefinitely going forwards, sometimes even at a more prominent scale than the MySQL / Postgres projects topic of discussion (which are not small by any means). something maybe like Git, most immediately comes to mind, as an example of the de-facto standard for distributed VCS basically since … 2005* when Linus decided to create it? edit: not 1995
      - erhaetherth 3y ago
        > something maybe like Git, most immediately comes to mind, as an example of the de-facto standard for distributed VCS basically since … 1995 when Linus decided to create it? hot take. might be the most popular, maybe even by a large margin, but I think you'll find a good chunk of people who have actually tried different VCSs don't think it's the best.
        0xf8 3y ago
        Yah, I think that’s probably true. But that’s also hard to reconcile with the reality of the adoption trending consistently away from any alternative and only towards Git. And “large margins” are indeed pretty objectively the case (from the largest developer surveys the breakdown 10 years ago was like 70% Git to everything, growing to ~95% in 2022). Usually the phenomenon you’re describing, leads to other alternatives becoming more popular not less (even if the most popular standard continues to eclipse the field. Here is would seem these highly likable alternatives for those who took the plunge are nevertheless dwindling into irrelevance… I suspect the die-hard proponents of Mercurial, or SVN, or whatever else, these few pagan heretics that might exist out there wherever they’re hiding, have found themselves in a camp different to the Git standard likely on the basis of electing to be intentionally contrarian / anti-normative as the general catalyst, and rather not, as a function of struggling with Git to the point of being so disillusioned they call it quits and head out looking for greener pastures. I think in practice the most common result of encountering problems with Git is, fix the problems. And functionally I think that’s resulted only in furthering it’s supremacy over alternatives, despite there existing a handful of cultish weirdos who are _really_ into Mercurial and prefer not to fux with Git as a personal lifestyle choice haha)

evanelias 3y ago

Your examples regarding MySQL's features are not correct. Need to apply an index to the result of a function? No problem, use a functional index, supported since October 2018: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/create-index.html#create-index-functional-key-parts https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/create-index.html#cr... Need to use a window function? No problem, supported since April 2018: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/window-functions.html https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/window-functions.htm...

stouset 3y ago
Fair. I picked two instances that had long been personally painful with MySQL and didn’t exist when I finally fled to greener pastures. There are far more examples than just those two though. :)
- evanelias 3y ago
  Sure, and there are also plenty of examples of things MySQL can do that Postgres can't. There's no silver bullets in software or databases, no "one size fits all". Just various trade-offs between different design decisions.
  - 0xf8 3y ago
    I mean, for most mature ecosystems / technology stacks I think the “no one size fits all, just strategic design trade-offs” theory largely holds true as an objectively accurate account of the “choosing the best tool“ situation …. but IMO, I think it’s worth noting that occasionally, some rare unique and functionally superlative technology comes along that in practice transcends every alternative from the onset and indefinitely going forwards, sometimes even at a more prominent scale than the MySQL / Postgres projects topic of discussion (which are not small by any means). something maybe like Git, most immediately comes to mind, as an example of the de-facto standard for distributed VCS basically since … 2005* when Linus decided to create it? edit: not 1995
    - erhaetherth 3y ago
      > something maybe like Git, most immediately comes to mind, as an example of the de-facto standard for distributed VCS basically since … 1995 when Linus decided to create it? hot take. might be the most popular, maybe even by a large margin, but I think you'll find a good chunk of people who have actually tried different VCSs don't think it's the best.
      - 0xf8 3y ago
        Yah, I think that’s probably true. But that’s also hard to reconcile with the reality of the adoption trending consistently away from any alternative and only towards Git. And “large margins” are indeed pretty objectively the case (from the largest developer surveys the breakdown 10 years ago was like 70% Git to everything, growing to ~95% in 2022). Usually the phenomenon you’re describing, leads to other alternatives becoming more popular not less (even if the most popular standard continues to eclipse the field. Here is would seem these highly likable alternatives for those who took the plunge are nevertheless dwindling into irrelevance… I suspect the die-hard proponents of Mercurial, or SVN, or whatever else, these few pagan heretics that might exist out there wherever they’re hiding, have found themselves in a camp different to the Git standard likely on the basis of electing to be intentionally contrarian / anti-normative as the general catalyst, and rather not, as a function of struggling with Git to the point of being so disillusioned they call it quits and head out looking for greener pastures. I think in practice the most common result of encountering problems with Git is, fix the problems. And functionally I think that’s resulted only in furthering it’s supremacy over alternatives, despite there existing a handful of cultish weirdos who are _really_ into Mercurial and prefer not to fux with Git as a personal lifestyle choice haha)