PostgreSQL 8.3: Open Source Database Promises Blazing Speed
The programmers behind the open source database PostgreSQL have release a feature-packed upgrade that promises significant speed boosts and some 280 new patches designed to cut down on your server workload.
The PostgreSQL press release claims that version 8.3 is between five and thirty percent faster than the previous version of PostgreSQL. But perhaps the best news for smaller developers is that PostgreSQL now supports full text searches out of the box, eliminating what might have been the biggest advantage of competing databases like MySQL.
While MySQL is still the more popular open source database solution, with PostgreSQL often besting MySQL in performance tests and the new full text searching capabilities in version 8.3, PostgresSQL may well have the edge.
Those charged with maintaining large databases will be happy to see a new feature known as a Heap Only Tuple (HOT), which “dramatically reduces the database maintenance.” That means high traffic sites with frequent database updates won’t need to vacuum their tables as often and will likely see better read/write performance.
Windows users will welcome PostgreSQL’s new MS Visual C++ support, which means the database can be compiled using Microsoft’s C++ compiler, rather than the 3rd tools.
Those wanting to upgrade should take note of the fact that PostgreSQL 8.3 has cleaned up some of its data type conversions (“casts”). If you’ve got older code that makes sloppy data type comparisons, you’ll want to do some more thorough testing before installing PostgreSQL 8.3. But, so long as your code is clean, the upgrade should be backwards-compatible with existing versions.
The one minor annoyance that seems to come with every new release of PostgreSQL is that a dump/restore using pg_dump is required for those wishing to migrate their stored data from any previous release.
For more details on all the new features and patches in the latest version of PostgreSQL have a look at the release notes. If you’re ready to make the leap there are binaries for most platforms and of course you can always compile your own from source.
[via Slashdot]
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