Hacker News Reader

Comment by slapresta | Hacker News Reader

> And if MySQL wasn't robust then YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Alibaba, LinkedIn etc wouldn't be using it for core parts of their infrastructure. It's definitely robust.

Popularity is not an argument for quality. See: crocs, Justin Bieber, PHP.

Those companies you mentioned, like many others, probably use it because they're locked in that technology, not because it's a superior one. Just like banks still use COBOL.

If you're interested on knowing why using MySQL isn't a good idea, there's this (highly opinionated, obviously) post about it: http://grimoire.ca/mysql/choose-something-else

View on HN

As an enthusiastic wearer of Crocs I have to interject to point out that there are many different aspects to quality - being robust is just one of them. Being able to easily recruit experts, ease of use, availability and quality of tools in the ecosystem are other measures.

It took me a while to realise the thing you referred to had changed, which led me to google "Crocs experts".

I never said popularity was an argument for quality. You did.

What I am saying is that if MySQL wasn't robust then those companies simply wouldn't be using it. Since at their scale any bug or weakness will manifest at a level far greater than say at a startup. And they have the skills, time and money to choose any technology they wan't so I don't buy your argument that they are "locked in". Some like Facebook and LinkedIn have even created their own databases.

And I never said MySQL was a good idea. You did. I am saying that to claim it is not robust flies in the face of available evidence.

" never said popularity was an argument for quality. You did."

I'd tend to think your statement:

"And if MySQL wasn't robust then YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Alibaba, LinkedIn etc wouldn't be using it for core parts of their infrastructure. It's definitely robust."

..points out that many (popular) sites use it, and a prerequisite is robustness, which thesaurus-wise, sounds a lot like quality.

I get that

a) you didn't actually say it, and

b) you could mean something much more specific, such as "companies with many highly-starred, complex open source projects which have also re-written major parts of their tech stack, but chose to leave mysql in place".

I know thats a bit more verbose, but it just seems to obviously close to the other author's interpretation with the ambiguity of the statement.

> many (popular) sites use it

threeseed's argument is not

    this handful of popular companies use it, therefore it is good

but rather

    this handful of companies, each of which is considered by some/many to be 'excellent' or 'top', use it, therefore it is good

>What I am saying is that if MySQL wasn't robust then those companies simply wouldn't be using it.

That conclusion does not follow from the premises: that some well known large companies use a technology in no way implies that it is robust.

You are assuming that large, well known companies always intrinsically select for high robustness in their tools, which is not necessarily the case. In fact, there are many well known public cases of the opposite.

It could be (for example) that large companies simply have the spare organizational capacity to deal with a lack of robustness. Perhaps they are locked in and find the ongoing cost of dealing with lack of robustness to be lower than the costs of switching to something more robust. Or it could be that they don't notice, for whatever reason, the lack of robustness. There could be many other possible explanations.

> And I never said MySQL was a good idea. You did. I am saying that to claim it is not robust flies in the face of available evidence.

I am glad you mention the word "evidence", since you have provided none so far. An assorted selection of popular, buzz-worthy sites does not qualify as evidence (or lack thereof) of the validity of the technologies they use and endorse.

For contrast, I linked to a really nice post that explains thoroughly why MySQL is not a good idea in the slightest. I would encourage you to read it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com