Re: Triggers, Stored Procedures, PHP. was: Re: PostgreSQL Advocacy, Thoughts and Comments

Tom,
>
>
> "Rod K" <rod(at)23net(dot)net> writes:
> > Paul Thomas wrote:
> >> Much of the populatity of MySQL seems to stem from PHPs out-of-the-box
> >> support for it.
>
> > This is incorrect. The embedded mysql client library was not
> added until
> > PHP4.0 RC1. PHP's popularity existed long before this. The
> real culprit
> > causing the popularity of MySQL was it's ubiquity among hosting
> providers
> > and the virtual non-existence of PG in that arena. If PG had been more
> > friendly to shared hosting environments, perhaps this situation wouldn't
> > have arisen.
>
> You are both engaging in the most blatant form of historical
> revisionism.

I am? I mis-spoke (see below) but my point was clear and you stated the
same.

Of course PHP's support for MySQL didn't drive MySQL
> adoption --- it was the other way around, PHP adapted to MySQL because
> that was what was out there.

My point.

I think "friendly to shared hosting
> environments" is a made-up reason as well. The real reason PG lost
> mindshare to MySQL in the early web days is that at the time, PG was
> hard to install, somewhat buggy, and poorly documented.

"...friendly to shared hosting environments" was not exactly what I meant to
say. It WAS a PITA for HOSTING PROVIDERS for exactly the reasons you state,
which is why MySQL was usually chosen.

(Which was not
> surprising considering that none of these mattered much in its original
> academic environment.) MySQL didn't do much, maybe, but what it could
> do it did pretty well and without install/learning curve hassles. We
> had mostly caught up on those criteria by perhaps 7.1 or 7.2, but the
> mindshare gap remains.
>
Agreed