PHP + MySQL : The Best Combination?

Anon

Is PHP and MySQL the best tandem for achieving good performance or responses in our web-based database applications ? or what?

Anon

You're likely going to touch off a big argument here on MuSQL Vs The World. Personally I'd say no, I'd use something other than MySQL for any serious database application. I suggest PostgreSQL. (www.postgresql.org) - it rocks, I've used it as a backend for many applications, both high and low end.

Now. I don't want to start a flame war, the link I'm going to display is very anti-MySQL but I think very accurate too..

http://openacs.org/philosophy/why-not-mysql.html

There are also many PHP Builder articles on MySQL and other databases. I'd suggest you check them out..

Good luck!

Anon

MySQL might be fine for a read-only site: lots of dynamic content being generated but a fairly low percentage of the load being inserts or updates.

I agree with everything you say about PostgreSQL, but it does (or has had) one glaring defect: a maximum row length of 8k. Anything else gets stored as large objects, which is huge pain in just about every aspect. There is a new version either coming out soon, or about to be released, that will do away with the 8k limit and offer other advantages too. When that happens, forget about MySQL!

Anon

As of Postgresql version 7.0.2, there really isn't much reason to use mysql anymore. If you site is slow, switch your webserver to thttpd first, then put a squid server in front of it, THEN look making the database run faster.

I've found Postgresql very stable and very capable, and for the stuff most people do with mysql, I do with gdbm, which is much faster than mysql for lookup tables, and do all my real dbms work in postgresql now.