|
1 | | -<Chapter Id="intro"> |
2 | | -<TITLE>Introduction</TITLE> |
3 | | - |
4 | | -<Para> |
5 | | - This document is the user manual for the |
6 | | - <Ulink url="http://postgresql.org/"><ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName></Ulink> |
7 | | - database management system, originally developed at the University |
8 | | - of California at Berkeley. |
9 | | - |
10 | | -<ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> is based on |
11 | | - <Ulink url="http://s2k-ftp.CS.Berkeley.EDU:8000/postgres/postgres.html"> |
12 | | - <ProductName>Postgres release 4.2</ProductName></Ulink>. |
13 | | -The <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> project, |
14 | | - led by Professor Michael Stonebraker, was sponsored by the |
15 | | - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (<Acronym>DARPA</Acronym>), the |
16 | | - Army Research Office (<Acronym>ARO</Acronym>), the National Science |
17 | | - Foundation (<Acronym>NSF</Acronym>), and ESL, Inc. |
18 | | -</Para> |
19 | | - |
20 | | -<Sect1> |
21 | | -<Title> What is <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>?</Title> |
22 | | - |
23 | | -<Para> |
24 | | - Traditional relational database management systems |
25 | | - (DBMSs) support a data model consisting of a collection |
26 | | - of named relations, containing attributes of a specific |
27 | | - type. In current commercial systems, possible types |
28 | | - include floating point numbers, integers, character |
29 | | - strings, money, and dates. It is commonly recognized |
30 | | - that this model is inadequate for future data |
31 | | - processing applications. |
32 | | - The relational model successfully replaced previous |
33 | | - models in part because of its "Spartan simplicity". |
34 | | - However, as mentioned, this simplicity often makes the |
35 | | - implementation of certain applications very difficult. |
36 | | - <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> offers substantial additional |
37 | | - power by incorporating the following four additional |
38 | | - basic concepts in such a way that users can easily |
39 | | - extend the system: |
40 | | - |
41 | | -<SimpleList> |
42 | | -<Member>classes</Member> |
43 | | -<Member>inheritance</Member> |
44 | | -<Member>types</Member> |
45 | | -<Member>functions</Member> |
46 | | -</SimpleList> |
47 | | -</Para> |
48 | | - |
49 | | -<Para> |
50 | | -Other features provide additional power and flexibility: |
51 | | - |
52 | | -<SimpleList> |
53 | | -<Member>constraints</Member> |
54 | | -<Member>triggers</Member> |
55 | | -<Member>rules</Member> |
56 | | -<Member>transaction integrity</Member> |
57 | | -</SimpleList> |
58 | | -</Para> |
59 | | - |
60 | | -<Para> |
61 | | -These features put <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> into the category of databases |
62 | | -referred to as <FirstTerm>object-relational</FirstTerm>. Note that this is distinct |
63 | | -from those referred to as <FirstTerm>object-oriented</FirstTerm>, which in general |
64 | | -are not as well suited to supporting the traditional relational database languages. |
65 | | -So, although <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> has some object-oriented features, |
66 | | -it is firmly in the relational database world. In fact, some commercial databases |
67 | | -have recently incorporated features pioneered by <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>. |
68 | | -</Para> |
69 | | - |
70 | | -</Sect1> |
71 | | - |
72 | | -&history; |
73 | | - |
74 | | -&about; |
75 | | - |
76 | | -&info; |
77 | | - |
78 | | -¬ation; |
79 | | - |
80 | | -&y2k; |
81 | | - |
82 | | -&legal; |
83 | | - |
84 | | -</Chapter> |
| 1 | + <chapter id="intro"> |
| 2 | + <title>Introduction</title> |
| 3 | + |
| 4 | + <para> |
| 5 | + This document is the user manual for the |
| 6 | + <ulink url="http://postgresql.org/"><productname>PostgreSQL</productname></ulink> |
| 7 | + database management system, originally developed at the University |
| 8 | + of California at Berkeley. |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | + <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> is based on |
| 11 | + <ulink url="http://s2k-ftp.CS.Berkeley.EDU:8000/postgres/postgres.html"> |
| 12 | + <productname>Postgres release 4.2</productname></ulink>. |
| 13 | + The <productname>Postgres</productname> project, |
| 14 | + led by Professor Michael Stonebraker, was sponsored by the |
| 15 | + Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (<acronym>DARPA</acronym>), the |
| 16 | + Army Research Office (<acronym>ARO</acronym>), the National Science |
| 17 | + Foundation (<acronym>NSF</acronym>), and ESL, Inc. |
| 18 | + </para> |
| 19 | + |
| 20 | + <sect1> |
| 21 | + <title> What is <productname>Postgres</productname>?</title> |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | + <para> |
| 24 | + Traditional relational database management systems |
| 25 | + (DBMSs) support a data model consisting of a collection |
| 26 | + of named relations, containing attributes of a specific |
| 27 | + type. In current commercial systems, possible types |
| 28 | + include floating point numbers, integers, character |
| 29 | + strings, money, and dates. It is commonly recognized |
| 30 | + that this model is inadequate for future data |
| 31 | + processing applications. |
| 32 | + The relational model successfully replaced previous |
| 33 | + models in part because of its "Spartan simplicity". |
| 34 | + However, as mentioned, this simplicity often makes the |
| 35 | + implementation of certain applications very difficult. |
| 36 | + <productname>Postgres</productname> offers substantial additional |
| 37 | + power by incorporating the following four additional |
| 38 | + basic concepts in such a way that users can easily |
| 39 | + extend the system: |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | + <simplelist> |
| 42 | + <member>classes</member> |
| 43 | + <member>inheritance</member> |
| 44 | + <member>types</member> |
| 45 | + <member>functions</member> |
| 46 | + </simplelist> |
| 47 | + </para> |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | + <para> |
| 50 | + Other features provide additional power and flexibility: |
| 51 | + |
| 52 | + <simplelist> |
| 53 | + <member>constraints</member> |
| 54 | + <member>triggers</member> |
| 55 | + <member>rules</member> |
| 56 | + <member>transaction integrity</member> |
| 57 | + </simplelist> |
| 58 | + </para> |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | + <para> |
| 61 | + These features put <productname>Postgres</productname> into the category of databases |
| 62 | + referred to as <firstterm>object-relational</firstterm>. Note that this is distinct |
| 63 | + from those referred to as <firstterm>object-oriented</firstterm>, which in general |
| 64 | + are not as well suited to supporting the traditional relational database languages. |
| 65 | + So, although <productname>Postgres</productname> has some object-oriented features, |
| 66 | + it is firmly in the relational database world. In fact, some commercial databases |
| 67 | + have recently incorporated features pioneered by <productname>Postgres</productname>. |
| 68 | + </para> |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | + </sect1> |
| 71 | + |
| 72 | + &history; |
| 73 | + &about; |
| 74 | + &info; |
| 75 | + ¬ation; |
| 76 | + &y2k; |
| 77 | + &legal; |
| 78 | + |
| 79 | + </chapter> |
| 80 | + |
| 81 | +<!-- Keep this comment at the end of the file |
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