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)

Server-Side Programming with PL/pgSQL

The ability to write functions in PostgreSQL is an amazing feature. We can perform any task within the scope of the database server. These tasks may be directly related to data manipulation, such as data aggregation and auditing, or they may be used to perform miscellaneous services, such as statistics collection, monitoring, system information acquisition, and job scheduling. In this chapter, our focus will be on the PL/pgSQL language. PL/pgSQL is the default procedural language for PostgreSQL. As we mentioned previously, in Chapter 4, PostgreSQL Advanced Building Blocks, PL/pgSQL is installed in PostgreSQL by default.

PL/pgSQL has been influenced by the PL/SQL language, which is the Oracle stored procedural language. PL/pgSQL is a complete procedural language, with rich control structures and full integration with the PostgreSQL triggers...