What's postgreSQL? How does it differ from mySQL? Can i use it instead of mySQL database any given chance?
I am no expert - just started converting a system from SQL Server to Postgresql - but my personal opinion: In short Free just as mysql. More of a "real" database engine and has supported transactions, stored procedures, triggers etc since many many years, features which are pretty new to MySQL. Incredibly advanced and strongly typed "type system" where you can define your own types. Even store arrays in the database. As for stored procedures - the main issue I am having is it's so strongly typed. You can't just return say "select id, name from table" out from a sp (or function as they call it) but you must stick to defined types (meaning any type of object such as view etc) In short: a little "slower" than MySQL (at least when using MyISAM datatable type) in most webbased scenarios (meaning almost no transactions at all, most read and little writes) however really nice to work with - the admin GUI shipping with it is excellent. Edit: can't post links yet but there are drivers for use from PHP, ASP.NET etc - however SQL syntax is somewhat different as compared to MySQL so it's not just a matter of replacing your MySQL function calls to Postgresql dito - you will need to change the SQL statements as well to some extent.
That's a good summary aspcode. It has more advanced featureS compared to MySQL and can indeed be used for more demanding tasks like transactions but also geo-enabling (many GIS commands like CONTAINS can't work in MySQL but can in PostGreSQL if set up correctly).