Lots of my friends and colleagues use various different databases for different things, as do I. One thing that I keep coming across is people using MySQL. I’ve never much liked MySQL; its transaction system is fairly new and is not enabled in the default table type, it’s really fast for read queries but slow for writes, the online documentation covers the beta version so it’s not necessarily in sync with the stable releases, and I distrust their somewhat ambiguous, non-OSI-approved license.

I’m of the opinion that if you need something small and fast, SQLite. If you need something bigger than that, PostgreSQL. If you need something really big, Oracle or DB2.

I’ve come across enough technical and philosophical problems with MySQL that I no longer endorse its use. It’s unfortunate that so many people write software that only works with it, including the software that powers this website, Textpattern. But I don’t write or maintain Textpattern’s code, nor do I maintain its database. I leave that up to the more-than-competent administrators who run this fabulous web hosting firm known as TextDrive.

Here’s a little document I came across that has a feature comparison of several top databases, and from a cursory look it appears to be pretty complete.

I’m going to keep adding stuff to this entry as I feel and find it, so I’ll have somewhere to which I can refer people when they say, “Why don’t you like MySQL.” Keep your eyes peeled.

Update: Jan 19, 2005

A friend of mine pointed me to this list of MySQL gotchas that’s pretty telling, too. Although I’m not as staunchly anti-MySQL as I used to be; I’ve been using it for a couple of projects where it was the default and I didn’t feel the need to invest the time in a better solution and it’s not as bad as it used to be. And it is pretty fast, despite its other glaring flaws. I still don’t consider it to be an enterprise-class RDBMS, though.

There are several aspects of Mac OS X, both from a system level and an application level, that handily make it the best system for web browsing and development on the market today.

First and foremost is the plethora of web browsers available for it:

• Apple’s Safari
• The Mozilla Project’s Firefox
• Omni Group’s OmniWeb
• The Mozilla Project’s Camino
• Opera Software’s Opera
• The Mozilla Project’s Mozilla

All of these browsers are significantly better at rendering standards-compliant HTML and CSS; they’re fast and easy to use; and, with notable exceptions, are available free of charge. A few of them are also Open Source applications meaning anyone can download, look at, or even modify the source code from which the applications are built, and can potentially return their contributions to the world by having them added to the project.

You may have noticed that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was missing from that list; I didn’t forget about it but, boy, am I trying to. Internet Explorer is a relic from a long-dead era in the Mac’s history. It was brought forward from Mac OS 8 and 9 to Mac OS X and it really hasn’t changed much in several years. Basically, it suffered from the same fate as it did on the Windows side – everyone was using it anyway, so why bother advancing the state of the art? Heck, shortly after Apple released Safari, Microsoft declared Internet Explorer a dead-end product line and released one last version. Internet Explorer is the single worst web browser available for the Mac and should be avoided at all costs.

The other two major aspects of Mac OS X that make it the best web platform on the market are similar enough that I can group them here. Mac OS X has a centralized plug-ins location, /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/, and any plug-ins which you install to that location are available for all Mac OS X browsers. You don’t have to manage and maintain two (or more) sets of plug-ins, which saves time, effort, and disk space. It also has a centralized password share, so usernames and passwords that you elect to save for a site to make future logging-in easier in one browser are available to all other browsers. You need do nothing extra. You have full freedom to switch browsers at will or as needed. Windows can do this, but it does not. I have no idea why; it’s not like the Internet and web browsers were new concepts when Windows XP was released.

The freedom to do the work I want and need to do using the tools I prefer easily makes Mac OS X the platform of choice for web-related work, hands down.