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)

Querying data with SELECT statements

SELECT statements, SELECT queries, or just queries are used to retrieve data from a database. SELECT queries can have different sources: tables, views, functions, or the VALUES command. All of them are relations or can be treated as relations or return relations, which functions can do. The output of SELECT is also a relation that, in general, can have multiple columns and contain many rows. Since the result and the source of a query have the same nature in SQL, it is possible to use one SELECT query as a source for another statement. In this case, both queries are considered parts of one bigger query. The source of the data, output format, filters, grouping, ordering, and required transformations of the data are specified in the code of the query.

In general, SELECT queries do not change the data in the database and could be considered read...