Book Image

Mastering PostgreSQL 15 - Fifth Edition

By : Hans-Jürgen Schönig
Book Image

Mastering PostgreSQL 15 - Fifth Edition

By: Hans-Jürgen Schönig

Overview of this book

Starting with an introduction to the newly released features of PostgreSQL 15, this updated fifth edition will help you get to grips with PostgreSQL administration and how to build dynamic database solutions for enterprise apps, including designing both physical and technical aspects of the system. You'll explore advanced PostgreSQL features, such as logical replication, database clusters, advanced indexing, and user management to manage and maintain your database. You'll then work with the PostgreSQL optimizer, configure PostgreSQL for high speed, and move from Oracle to PostgreSQL. Among the other skills that the book will help you build, you’ll cover transactions, handling recursions, working with JSON and JSONB data, and setting up a Patroni cluster. It will show you how to improve performance with query optimization. You'll also focus on managing network security and work with backups and replication while exploring useful PostgreSQL extensions that optimize the performance of large databases. By the end of this PostgreSQL book, you’ll be able to use your database to its utmost capacity by implementing advanced administrative tasks with ease.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)

Supporting range types

One of the most powerful features of PostgreSQL is the ability to make use of range types. Why is that important? When dealing with all kinds of data, we will often see that information is only valid for a certain period. Maybe we want to store prices that change over time, or we want to handle measurement data that is only valid for a certain period.

Normally, what you would do is use two columns, as shown in the next example:

test=# CREATE TABLE t_price (
    id       serial,
    product_name   text,
    price     numeric,
    price_from   date,
    price_until   date,
    CHECK (price_until >= price_from)
);
CREATE TABLE

In this case, the price is valid for a certain period. If we want to query whether price periods overlap...