Book Image

Learning PostgreSQL 11 - Third Edition

By : Salahaldin Juba, Andrey Volkov
Book Image

Learning PostgreSQL 11 - Third Edition

By: Salahaldin Juba, Andrey Volkov

Overview of this book

PostgreSQL is one of the most popular open source database management systems in the world, and it supports advanced features included in SQL standards. This book will familiarize you with the latest features in PostgreSQL 11, and get you up and running with building efficient PostgreSQL database solutions from scratch. Learning PostgreSQL, 11 begins by covering the concepts of relational databases and their core principles. You’ll explore the Data Definition Language (DDL) and commonly used DDL commands supported by ANSI SQL. You’ll also learn how to create tables, define integrity constraints, build indexes, and set up views and other schema objects. As you advance, you’ll come to understand Data Manipulation Language (DML) and server-side programming capabilities using PL/pgSQL, giving you a robust background to develop, tune, test, and troubleshoot your database application. The book will guide you in exploring NoSQL capabilities and connecting to your database to manipulate data objects. You’ll get to grips with using data warehousing in analytical solutions and reports, and scaling the database for high availability and performance. By the end of this book, you’ll have gained a thorough understanding of PostgreSQL 11 and developed the necessary skills to build efficient database solutions.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)

Functions

A PostgreSQL function is used to provide a distinct service, and it is often composed of a set of declarations, expressions, and statements. PostgreSQL has very rich built-in functions for almost all existing data types. In this chapter, we will focus on user-defined functions. However, more details about the syntax and function parameters will be covered in later chapters.

The PostgreSQL native programming language

PostgreSQL supports out-of-the-box, user-defined functions, written in C, SQL, and PL/pgSQL. There are also three other procedural languages that come with the standard PostgreSQL distribution—PL/Tcl, PL/Python, and PL/Perl. However, you will need to create the languages in order to use them, via...