[LA.pm] July Meeting?

[Randal L. Schwartz]

>>>>> "Mike" == Mike Frager <mfrager at gmail.com> writes:

Mike> Actually vertical tables are not much like pivot tables. They are
Mike> a way to store data where the schema (the columns names) changes
Mike> frequently or is not known ahead of time.

Oh, only a short hop from the dreaded EAV
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entity-attribute-value_model), or how to
avoid using a relational database entirely and properly by just turning
it into a heaping pile of data. :)

This is what happens when people use a so-called database (like MySQL)
that doesn't have transactional DDL, and so any schema change requires a
shutdown, unacceptable in OLTP.  PostgreSQL for the win.

Having said that, I'd be curious to see your presentation to see if it's
*not* just about getting around MySQL's wholly unnecessary limitations.

Friends don't let friends start new projects with MySQL.

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<merlyn at stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
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