Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!uunet!motcid!palat
From: palat@motcid.UUCP (Mohan Palat)
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Why is Oracle better than Ingres
Message-ID: <5550@avocado20.UUCP>
Date: 30 Nov 90 21:18:35 GMT
References: <734@keele.keele.ac.uk>
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Div., Arlington Heights, IL
Lines: 33

csb19@seq1.kl.ac.uk (K. Allen) writes:

>Could someone outline the major differences between Oracle and Ingres.
>Please state if you are using the commercial or university versions
>of Ingres.

>If you can objectively summerise the advantages of Oracle over Ingres
>or visa versa then I would be grateful.

	Briefly ....

	Oracle has a more extensive implementation of SQL than Ingres.
	Ingres supports QUEL and SQL (in Ingres 5, the SQL implementation
	is incomplete).
	Oracle's 4GL (SQL*Forms) is incomplete in its functionality
	whereas Ingres' 4GL (ABF) provides a more complete environment
	for rapid applications development.
	Oracle uses an unusual process architecture (in UNIX). Several 
	processes have to be started up before one can even access a 
	database. Ingres does not require any such initialization. 
	Oracle provides a wider set of utility packages (most of which
	have names that start with SQL*) than Ingres. The task of determining
	which packages/modules are needed for an application is therefore more
	complicated in Oracle.
	Ingres has a wider choice of data storage methods(heap, hash, isam,
	b-tree) than Oracle(b-tree, clustered).
 	Unlike Ingres, Oracle is not a "natural" UNIX dbms in that it was
	not developed on UNIX and is more popular in the IBM and DEC non-UNIX
	environments. It is highly compatible with IBM's DB2.

	Mohan Palat