Page 1 of 1

whats the difference

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:22 pm
by giarkcom
whats the difference between all of the database types?

Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2006 10:03 pm
by feyd
...in which database? What specifically are you looking for? Have you look at their manual?

Re: whats the difference

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:01 pm
by califdon
giarkcom wrote:whats the difference between all of the database types?
It's not clear what you are asking. Are you asking about generic database types like, relational, flat-file, or object-oriented? Are you asking about data types? Or are you asking about specific database software? If it's the latter, whole books have been written about the differences between, say MySQL and Postgres, or between Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server--it's much too big a subject to discuss on a forum. It's like asking what's the difference between a Dell computer and a Gateway computer.

Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:28 pm
by giarkcom
um i was just asking about general differences between mysql and...say.....portgesql(dont get mad at me for spelling).

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:36 pm
by califdon
Nobody will get mad at you for spelling errors (although it helps if you can express your question in a way that makes sense so we can try to answer it).

There are literally dozens of database engines, like MySQL, Postgres, Oracle, MS SQL, Access, FoxPro, Informix, DB2, and on and on. As I said in my previous post, a comparison of these engines would take perhaps hundreds of pages, so don't expect a clear answer in a forum.

But in general, you might want to distinguish between commercial databases that cost a lot of money to buy, and open source databases that are free to use. MySQL and Postgres are open source. The rest that I mentioned above are commercial. The next thing is what OS they will operate under. MySQL is available for use with Linux and Windows (not sure about Macs, but I think so). Postgres only works under Linux, as far as I know. MS SQL, Access and FoxPro are Windows software. Most all of them will handle multiple relational tables with millions of records. They all can be manipulated with Structured Query Language (SQL). "What are the differences?" It's like asking what are the differences between Toyotas and Mazdas and BMWs. There are LOTS of differences, but they all do basically the same job.

Beyond that, if you are really interested, you can look up each of these in Google and read what they can do.

Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:50 pm
by feyd
There are official builds of Postgres for Windows now.

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 9:33 pm
by califdon
Cool!