About PostgreSQL SQL

Introduction

PostgreSQL is an open-source object-relational database management system (ORDBMS). It’s object-oriented and relational oriented, meaning that it backs classes and objects of query languages, schemas, and database components.

This particular ORDBMS has improved since its inception by adding performance enhancements, commercial-like data types without the expense. To that end, for well over a decade, PostgreSQL has displayed data accurateness and integrity.

PostgreSQL is also easy to use, so for beginners, it’s an ideal programming language due to its short learning curve. This fact along with the trust factor makes PostgreSQL SQL ORDBMS an attractive choice for many developers, both novice and advanced.

This article’s focus is on learning about a succinct history of PostgreSQL, as well as to discuss its features, advantages, and disadvantages.

A short historical timeline of PostgreSQL

• 1977 – 1985 – Michael Stonebraker, a computer science professor, and his colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), and the Actian Corporation developed INGRES, a relational management database management system.

• 1980 – INGRES, the company, was established.

• 1986 – Postgres was created as the predecessor of INGRES by a team led by Michael Stonebraker.

• 1986 -1994 – Query language (Quel) and object-oriented concepts were developed. Postgres was later called Illustra. Subsequently, it was purchased by Informix.

• 1990 – Procedural Language/PostgreSQL (PL/pgSQL) and authentic ACID support were developed.

• 1994 – Computer Associates purchased INGRES and is its current owner. For Postgress, SQL support was included.

• 1995 – Postgres95 released.

• 1996 – PostgresSQL 6.0 released. The PostgreSQL Global Development Team was established.

• 1998 – 2001 – Added syntax controls procedural language loader, Multiversion concurrency control (MVCC), and Grand Unified Configuration (GUC).

• 2002 – 2006 – PostgresSQL 7.2 through PostgresSQL 8.2 released with Roles, VACUUM non-blocking, dblink, and support for Schema.

• 2009 – PostgresSQL 8.4 released.

• 2010 – PostgresSQL 9.0 released.

• 2013 – New York City PostgreSQL User Group (NYCPUG) joined the United States PostgreSQL Association (PgUS).

Today, developer volunteers continue to revise and enhance PostgreSQL to keep it relevant, open source, and affordable: Free.

PostgreSQL and Suitable Operating Systems

PostgreSQL is compatible with notable operation systems including:

• Windows

• Linux

• UNIX based OS those listed below:

• AIX

• BSD

• HP-UX

• Mac OS X

• SGI IRIX

• Solaris

• Tru64

PostgreSQL’s main features

Developers can build powerful applications using PostgreSQL’s most notable helpful features.

• OS compatibility. Its OS platform variety enables developers to design applications that suit the architectural environment preference.

• Lock-based protocol. Technologically advanced locking mechanism support to avoid conflicting read and write actions. PostgreSQL’s control for concurrent actions in transactions is known for its security enrichment.

• Replication SSL that’s trigger- or log-based. Streaming replication with versions 9.0 and later.

• ANSI SQL compliant and ANSI-SQL 2008 and object-oriented programming compatible.

• JSON support. PostgreSQL permits NoSQL data storage linking for multi-programming language polyglot database hub use.

• Server benefits. Functionality and network architecture support for server-side plus standby server with the ability to operate along time (high availability).

• Interfaces for programming languages for Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), Java, Python, Ruby, Tcl, Perl, and C / C++.

• Complete with audio, video, images, and text support.

• Additional features include the ability to handle SQL queries that are complex, subquery SELECT SQL, views for complex queries, non-English keys, and in versions 9.0 and later, Hot Standby to keep connections open during Standby mode.

What’s more, PostgreSQL gives users the ability to supplement it with:

• Aggregate functions, index methods, and operators.

Support of procedural languages

PostgreSQL works with the following standard PLs:

• PL/Python

• PL/Tcl

• PL/Perl

• PL/pgSQL

PostgreSQL is also non-standard PL support for the ones below and others:

• PL/Java

• PL/Ruby

• PL/PHP

• PL/V8

PostgreSQL industry applications

PostgreSQL is functional and applicable to various industries such as the following:

Manufacturing

With PostgreSQL, manufacturing companies lower their operational expenses and increase productivity in the supply chain. These improvements are realized when they use the PostgreSQL as a back-end storage database.

Government

Government organizations rely on compelling geographical information systems for their projects. PostgreSQL’s PostGIS extension was designed to handle a variety of formats for Geodata and geospatial data such as spatial imagery. Along with GeoServer QGIS plugin, dealing with geodata is straightforward.

Finance

Online transaction processing (OLTP) and compliance of atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability (ACID) are what the financial industry depend on for accurate and timely online transactions. PostgreSQL is highly integrable with mathematical engineering software such as R and Matlab.

The strong points of PostgreSQL

Here are some notable strengths of PostgresSQL.

• Businesses have the choice to create dynamic web-based applications use a Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (LAMP) stack, the original four open-source language components.

• PostgreSQL’s database is extremely forgiving in case of system failure, it has the tolerance to continue to run because of its write-ahead logging (WAL) feature.

• Customized modification. Because it is open source, free licensing enables businesses to tailor the database as needed.

• Mapping and geographical objects are supported by PostgreSQL. Business organizations can store, analyze and sort geographic information systems (GIS) data and run services that run based on locations.

• PostgreSQL is effortless to learn. With little training, beginners can code quickly.

• Minimal maintenance required on the administrative end for business organizations and in cases of embedded usage where non-computer devices control machines.

A few imperfections of PostgresSQL

PostgresSQL isn’t without some hindrances worth noting.

• As an open-source product, no single company can claim ownership of PostgreSQL. It is missing organizational marketing, therefore, its advanced features that rival other DBMS’s are relatively unknown.

• MySQL, its competitor, is faster in regards to speed and the metrics that measure performance.

• PostgreSQL may not be as compatible with as many open-source applications as MySQL.

Conclusion

The PostgreSQL SQL ORDBMS has advantages that far outweigh its drawbacks. The fact that it’s not owned by a solitary organization and publicized to the masses hasn’t slowed down its popularity. On the contrary, PostgreSQL continues to grow, although it could be even more popular if an advertised campaign were running. Just as well. Commercialization might take away the open-source feel and drive the volunteer developers to despise what they once birthed, groomed, and loved. Enjoy PostgreSQL for what it is: an all-powerful ORDBMS–a best-kept secret that practically isn’t. Explore PostgreSQL today.