PostgreSQL Server Programming: Take your skills with PostgreSQL to a whole new level with this fascinating guide to server programming. A step by step approach with illuminating examples will educate you in the full range of possibilities.

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4.7 (9 Ratings)

Paperback Jun 2013 264 pages 1st Edition

$54.99

Paperback Jun 2013 264 pages 1st Edition

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Key benefits

Understand the extension framework of PostgreSQL, and leverage it in ways that you haven't even invented yet
Write functions, create your own data types, all in your favourite programming language
Step-by-step tutorial with plenty of tips and tricks to kick-start server programming

Description

Learn how to work with PostgreSQL as if you spent the last decade working on it. PostgreSQL is capable of providing you with all of the options that you have in your favourite development language and then extending that right on to the database server. With this knowledge in hand, you will be able to respond to the current demand for advanced PostgreSQL skills in a lucrative and booming market."PostgreSQL Server Programming" will show you that PostgreSQL is so much more than a database server. In fact, it could even be seen as an application development framework, with the added bonuses of transaction support, massive data storage, journaling, recovery and a host of other features that the PostgreSQL engine provides. This book will take you from learning the basic parts of a PostgreSQL function, then writing them in languages other than the built-in PL/PgSQL. You will see how to create libraries of useful code, group them into even more useful components, and distribute them to the community. You will see how to extract data from a multitude of foreign data sources, and then extend PostgreSQL to do it natively. And you can do all of this in a nifty debugging interface that will allow you to do it efficiently and with reliability.

Who is this book for?

"PostgreSQL Server Programming" is for moderate to advanced PostgreSQL database professionals. To get the best understanding of this book, you should have general experience in writing SQL, a basic idea of query tuning, and some coding experience in a language of your choice.

What you will learn

Write functions in the built-in PL/PgSQL language or your language of choice
Extract data from foreign data sources
Add operators, data types, and other custom elements
Debug and code efficiently
Decide what machine resources your process will use
Create your own data types, operators, functions, aggregates, and even your own language
Fully integrate the database layer into your development

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Amazon verified reviews

David Lee Dec 27, 2014

This book is helpful for anyone that wants to learn PostgreSQL.

Amazon Verified review

Shaun Thomas Dec 12, 2013

There comes a time in every DBA's life, that he needs to add functionality to his database software. To most DBAs, and indeed for most databases, this amounts to writing a few stored procedures or triggers. In extremely advanced cases, the database may provide an API for direct C-language calls. PostgreSQL however, has gone above and beyond this for several years, and have continuously made the process easier with each iteration.So once again, I'm glad to review a book by three authors in the industry who either work directly on PostgreSQL internals, or use it extensively enough to contribute vastly important functionality. Hannu Krosing, Jim Mlodgenski, and Kirk Roybal collaborated to produce PostgreSQL Server Programming, a necessary and refreshing addition to the PostgreSQL compendium. I don't know who contributed each individual chapter, but I can make a fairly educated guess that anything PL/Proxy related came from Mr. Krosing, its original designer.As usual for a book of this type, things start off with relative simplicity. The authors make a very important note I try to convey to staff developers regularly: let the database do its job. The database is there to juggle data, handle set theory, and otherwise reduce traffic to and from the application to a minimum. This saves both network bandwidth and processing time on the front end, which can be combined with caching to service vastly larger infrastructures than otherwise possible.Beyond this, are the basics. Using stored procedures, taking advantage of triggers, writing functions that can return sets. The gamut of examples runs from data auditing and logging, to integrity control and a certain extent of business logic. One or more of the authors suggests that functions are the proper interface to the database, to reduce overhead, and provide an abstract API that can change without directly altering the application code. It is, after all, the common denominator in any library or tool dealing with the data. While I personally don't agree with this type of approach, the logical reasoning is sound, and can help simplify and prevent many future headaches.But then? Then comes the real nitty-gritty. PostgreSQL allows interfacing with the database through several languages, including Python, Perl, and even TCL/TK, and the authors want you to know it. Databases like Oracle have long allowed C-level calls to the database, and this has often included Java in later incarnations. PostgreSQL though, is the only RDBMS that acts almost like its own middle layer. It's a junction that allows JSON (a Javascript encapsulation) accessed via Python, to be filtered by a TCL trigger, on a table that matched data through an index produced by a Perl function. The authors provide Python and C examples for much of this scenario, including the JSON!And that's where this book really shines: examples. There's Python, C, PLPGSQL, triggers, procedures, compiled code, variants of several difficult techniques, and more. In the C case, things start with a simple "Hello World" type you might see in a beginning programming class, and the author steps through increasingly complex examples. Eventually, the C code is returning sets of sets of data per call, as if simulating several table rows.In the more concrete, the authors provide copious links to external documentation and Wiki pages for those who want to explore this territory in more depth. Beyond that, they want readers to know about major sources of contributed code and extensions, all to make the database more useful, and perhaps entice the reader join in the fun. Everything from installing, to details necessary for writing extensions is covered, so that is well within the realm of possibility!I already mentioned that at least one of the authors encourages functional database access instead of direct SQL. Well, there's more than the obvious reasons for this: PL/Proxy is a procedural language that uses functions to facilitate database sharding for horizontal scalability. Originally designed for Skype, PL/Proxy has been used by many other projects. While it might not apply to everyone, sharding is a very real technique with non-trivial implementation details that have stymied the efforts of many development teams.I actually would have liked a more extensive chapter or two regarding PL/Proxy. While several examples of functional access are outlined for a chat server, none of these functions are later modified in a way that would obviously leverage PL/Proxy. Further, Krosing doesn't address how sequences should be distributed so data on all the various servers get non-conflicting surrogate keys. It would have been nice to see an end-to-end implementation.All in all, anyone serious about their PostgreSQL database should take a look. Getting a server up and running is only half the story; making the database an integral component of an application instead of a mere junk drawer provides more functionality with fewer resources. It's good to see a book that not only emphasizes this, but conveys the knowledge in order to accomplish such a feat. Hannu, Jim, and Kirk have all done the community a great service. I hope to see revisions of this in the future as PostgreSQL matures.

Pierre Jul 25, 2013

At long last, a PostgreSQL book. Why saying that with all the existing PostgreSQL books ? It's just that most of these books cover usual topics, that are not PostgreSQL specific. Replication, basic administration... Here, we are going straigh to some of the best features of PostgreSQL : its high extensibility with server-side programming.The book begins with explanations about why using server-side programming, and then a tutorial to guide you through PL/pgSQL.Warning : that tutorial, as the whole book, assumes you have previous PostgreSQL knowledge.Afterwards, you'll go through the triggers world, learn some stuff about debugging in case you are not a perfect developper, and then you'll travel to more exotic server programming choices. The language used for all examples is PL/python, but it works the same with Perl/Lua... And next language is C, to write extra low level extensions, accessing the whole server internals.And finally, you'll learn how to contribute to the extension network and use your functions to spread accross servers using PL/Proxy.It's really a great book, I was looking forward reading it, and it met my expectations. I needed a book to push me forward in my server side programming, giving general guidance and suggestions. It's not a SQL reference, it would require many many books while still being far from exhaustive. But it's a deep Server Programming introduction. And it is good. The introduction comes also handy to teach your collegues about that.

Brian Wells Oct 05, 2019

Not something you'd want to pay top dollar for, as it does not cover newer developments, but for a newcomer it's a great intro to everything up through 2015, IMHO. Look for a used copy under $10 and you'll be pleased with the purchase. (I doubt the 2nd edition merits the prices I am seeing, but the 1st edition can be found cheaply)

B. Walter Finn Jan 25, 2014

There seems to be more code than explanation... that's perfectly fine. I read "MySQL Stored Procedure Programming" by Guy Harrison as well as a few Python books before this one, so I was comfortable with the material and was able to study the code and make some sense of it. An essential reference for anyone who prefers a tutorial style over cryptic reference documentation. Has examples that can be adapted and applied. I would recommend to anyone before starting their next project. It's always good to know what options you have available to meet business requirements, and not all are at the application layer.

PostgreSQL Server Programming: Take your skills with PostgreSQL to a whole new level with this fascinating guide to server programming. A step by step approach with illuminating examples will educate you in the full range of possibilities.

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