16 Jul, 2008

MySQL vs Postgres

Posted by Bhavin Turakhia | (10) Comments

In my perpetual comparison between MySQL and Postgres I am beginning to lean towards MySQL offlate. There are many reasons, but a short list that is currently relevant to us is here -

• MySQL supports multiple backend storage engines providing more flexibility of choice. For instance one can choose MyISAM for tables where transactions and ACID compliance does not matter, and gain a performance advantage. Or one can use a Memory storage engine for temporary in-memory tables
• InnoDB supports optional MVCC, thus providing best of both worlds
• MySQL supports native replication and shared nothing clusters
• MySQL has better integration with memcached
• MySQL uses multi-threading as opposed to process-forking, making it less heavy
• More people are using MySQL than Postgres – eg Facebook, Youtube etc
• MySQL is now owned by Sun, and despite their recent lay-offs they are a company I respect

There are many other reasons, but currently these are the ones that are relevant to the products we are working on.

15 Jul, 2008

Just Do It

Posted by Bhavin Turakhia | (5) Comments

No. This is not some Nike Propaganda

Last night I saw a show – “The New Inventor” on the Australia Network channel, a channel that in the past I have only flipped through en route from “Star World” to “AXN”. One of the inventors being profiled on the show made a statement, one that I have heard in the past, but one so profound that it deserves its own blog post.

I paraphrase his statement below -

When you have an idea or a vision, it can have three possible outcomes -

• You give it all you’ve got and you suceed
• or, You give it all you’ve got and fail
• or, You ignore it and spend a lifetime wondering “What If?” !!!

The first outcome is the happy path. The second outcome involves a temporary downside accompanied by lessons that will serve you for a lifetime. The last outcome involves a lifetime of doubt.