I'm starting research on 'innovation' in database technologies. To be sure I'm on the right track, this thread is about serializable architecture, or, transaction locking.
Furthermore, upserts are an umbrella term for 'insert' and 'update'.
So far so good, but when it comes to SSI I am not finding any explanations for this acronym.
Searching for the predicate of a real database: ...
Andrew Lardinois
On Sun, Apr 3, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Joshua Berkus
<josh@agliodbs.com> wrote:
> I assume you mean by "innovation" that these are things where
> PostgreSQL
> was the first DBMS to implement them. The risk with that is, unless
> you
> do very careful research, someone might debunk each of these within 24
> hours after the release, making the whole thing look foolish.
Well, we can hedge a bit. But, better, can someone (preferably several someones) on this list volunteer to do research? Anyone?
>
> Moreover, the fact that something might have been innovated doesn't
> explain how it helps the user.
Truthfully, for a press release, it doesn't matter. Many reporters/bloggers will happily quote that we're the first database with SSI without having a clue what it means. In general, most reporters who cover databases don't really know know (or care) much about databases regardless (or "NoSQL" wouldn't have the press it does).
From a PR perspective, the important thing to get across is that the PostgreSQL project is innovating, implementing new database tech before anyone else. This is critically important during a period where SQL-RDBMSes are being portrayed as "old grandfathers" in a press more enchanted with "the new hotness" of recently invented DBMSes.
Now, for our users and for serious database geeks, we *do* need an elevator-pitch explanation of several features which tells them why they should care. Several features in particular are not immediately obvious:
* SSI
* wCTE
* KNN-GiST
* SE-Postgres
* Transaction-controlled Synch Rep
I would like to have volunteers from the advocacy list commit to taking on one of each of these features. For each one we need:
a) a two-line explanation of what the feature is and why it's valuable (for the release notes, etc.)
b) a wiki page with a more detailed explaination and examples oriented towards the beginning-to-intermediate PostgreSQL user.
Volunteers?
San Francisco
