Just to join Ovid in his recent rants...
My co-worker and I have just spent the last forty five minutes with a bug that boils down to this "interesting" behaviour...
create temporary table the_dates (d date not null default '0000-00-00');
insert into the_dates values ('0000-00-00');
So far so normal.... but:
mysql> select count(*) from the_dates where d is null; +----------+ | count(*) | +----------+ | 1 | +----------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec) mysql> select count(*) from the_dates where d is not null; +----------+ | count(*) | +----------+ | 1 | +----------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec)
.... sigh....
Why, why, why do people insist upon using this piece of crap database? The arguments I get into typically go like this:
Them: "But MySQL is faster."
Ovid: "Do you have benchmarks?"
Them: "No, but MySQL is still faster than other databases."
Ovid: "Have you benchmarked your app with other databases?"
Them: "No, but others swear up and down that it's faster."
Ovid: "So you feel that fast is more important that correct answers?"
Them: "But I already know MySQL."
Ovid: "That's a fair point. The Postgres client only speaks Klingon."
Nobody seems to get that final joke. If you know MySQL, the switch to Postgres for general use takes about, oh, 30 seconds. If you know the "advanced" features of MySQL, you probably don't need much persuading to abandon it
Re:Aargh!
sigzero on 2007-03-09T13:37:34
I like the elephant moniker more than the dolphin one. Does that count?Re:Aargh!
jk2addict on 2007-03-09T14:15:58
/me quotes the old Quiznos commercials
"I fear change. I shall keep my bushes."Re:Aargh!
djberg96 on 2007-03-09T15:17:49
I blame phpMyAdmin for the insidious spread of this crappy database.I chose PostgreSQL for my own project, and I haven't regretted it one bit. Plus, you can claim it's "enterprise software" to keep the PHB's happy now that it ships with Solaris 10 by default. I think you can even get a service contract with Sun for it if you want (but I'd have to double check).
Re:Aargh!
Alias on 2007-03-10T02:38:28
I blame:
1. PHP
2. Having a company pushing it
3. A few years there where Pg wasn't moving much
4. Much easier to manage accounts, just connect remotely as root and start creating accounts.
Re:Aargh!
jplindstrom on 2007-03-09T15:19:47
I don't know Postgres at all, but I can imagine it's not just db "features" and semantics that differ and need to be accounted for, but also the rest of the tool chain, e.g. clients, data loaders, backup procedures, etc. that you need to re-learn.
All databases suck, but in different ways. MySQL, however, seems special.Re:Aargh!
chromatic on 2007-03-09T18:43:33
Once, I switched an entire 28-node MySQL cluster to a single PostgreSQL instance by making clever use of table inheritance and a one-liner PL/Pgsql script written in Python 3000! PG RULEZ!!
...the Heisendate. I can't remember how many times I was bitten by this kind of MySQL's DWSGSWM (Do What Some Guy SomeWhen Meant).
Re:one problem I do not need to worry about
bart on 2007-03-10T12:31:58
Plus, in what way is '0000-00-00' a valid date? I can only see it as a (badly) stringified version of a NULL date. Thus, it should have been disallowed as an entry in this table. IMO it should be disallowed anywhere.Re:one problem I do not need to worry about
Adrian on 2007-03-12T14:44:24
'0000-00-00' is a valid "zero value" date in MySQL - see the docs for the evil details.
Needless to say - not my schema.
Re:one problem I do not need to worry about
Adrian on 2007-03-12T14:59:30
We had some generic SQL that applied to several tables in similar ways.
... and goddamn it - it's just wrong to say a table is null and not null at the same time
:-) Re:one problem I do not need to worry about
link on 2007-03-12T15:41:21
Now that I work with mysql I plan to read
http://sql-info.de/mysql/gotchas.html properly at some stage.
At least this feature is documented in the mysql
docs (but who ever reads the docs)
"For DATE and DATETIME columns that are declared as NOT NULL, you can find the special date '0000-00-00' by using a statement like this:
SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE date_column IS NULL
This is needed to get some ODBC applications to work because ODBC does not support a '0000-00-00' date value."
Re:But Mysql IS faster...
parv on 2007-03-27T05:48:46
Problem with "[Mysql is good for]
... CMS systems on websites" argurment is whoever uses MySQL would (try to) push|use|propogate elsewhere for any other db related work. (A rant.) Even more amazing thing is even when one knows that version 4.x is horrible (compared to 5.1, which is actually available), there would be no motivation to upgrade for applications might break. Version 4.x would keep on laughing & living due to installation of new applications (which would be deined the chance of using a better database system).
Further, there would be lack of incentive, or actively being told so from higher ups not to, to actually do testing of old applications w/ better DBMS as the resources would be better spent on (mostly) adding new features or modifying existing ones (non-bug related). Something would break (not only applications but also the entity using the database) before the situtation would be fixed.