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<title>Preface</title>
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<body bgcolor="white" text="black" link="#0000FF" vlink="#840084" alink="#0000FF"><div class="preface" lang="en" id="preface">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title">
<a name="preface"></a>Preface</h2></div></div></div>
<div class="toc">
<p><b>Table of Contents</b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="preface.html#intro-whatis">1.1. What is <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>?</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="history.html">1.2. A Brief History of <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span></a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="sect2"><a href="history.html#history-berkeley">1.2.1. The Berkeley <span class="productname">POSTGRES</span> Project</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect2"><a href="history.html#history-postgres95">1.2.2. <span class="productname">Postgres95</span></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect2"><a href="history.html#id512764">1.2.3. <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span></a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="notation.html">1.3. Conventions</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="resources.html">1.4. Further Information</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect1"><a href="bug-reporting.html">1.5. Bug Reporting Guidelines</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="sect2"><a href="bug-reporting.html#id513156">1.5.1. Identifying Bugs</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect2"><a href="bug-reporting.html#id556095">1.5.2. What to report</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="sect2"><a href="bug-reporting.html#id556590">1.5.3. Where to report bugs</a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
</dl>
</div>
<p> This book is the official documentation of
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>. It is being written by the
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> developers and other
volunteers in parallel to the development of the
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> software. It describes all
the functionality that the current version of
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> officially supports.
</p>
<p> To make the large amount of information about
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> manageable, this book has been
organized in several parts. Each part is targeted at a different
class of users, or at users in different stages of their
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> experience:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc">
<li><p> <a href="tutorial.html" title="PartI.Tutorial">PartI, “Tutorial”</a> is an informal introduction for new users.
</p></li>
<li><p> <a href="sql.html" title="PartII.The SQL Language">PartII, “The SQL Language”</a> documents the <acronym class="acronym">SQL</acronym> query
language environment, including data types and functions, as well
as user-level performance tuning. Every
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> user should read this.
</p></li>
<li><p> <a href="admin.html" title="PartIII.Server Administration">PartIII, “Server Administration”</a> describes the installation and
administration of the server. Everyone who runs a
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> server, be it for private
use or for others, should read this part.
</p></li>
<li><p> <a href="client-interfaces.html" title="PartIV.Client Interfaces">PartIV, “Client Interfaces”</a> describes the programming
interfaces for <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> client
programs.
</p></li>
<li><p> <a href="server-programming.html" title="PartV.Server Programming">PartV, “Server Programming”</a> contains information for
advanced users about the extensibility capabilities of the
server. Topics are, for instance, user-defined data types and
functions.
</p></li>
<li><p> <a href="reference.html" title="PartVI.Reference">PartVI, “Reference”</a> contains reference information about
SQL commands, client and server programs. This part supports
the other parts with structured information sorted by command or
program.
</p></li>
<li><p> <a href="internals.html" title="PartVII.Internals">PartVII, “Internals”</a> contains assorted information that may be of
use to <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> developers.
</p></li>
</ul></div>
<p>
</p>
<div class="sect1" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
<a name="intro-whatis"></a>1.1. What is <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>?</h2></div></div></div>
<p> <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> is an object-relational
database management system (<acronym class="acronym">ORDBMS</acronym>) based on
<a href="http://s2k-ftp.CS.Berkeley.EDU:8000/postgres/postgres.html" target="_top"> <span class="productname">POSTGRES, Version 4.2</span></a>,
developed at the University of California at Berkeley Computer Science
Department. POSTGRES pioneered many concepts that only became
available in some commercial database systems much later.
</p>
<p> <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> is an open-source descendant
of this original Berkeley code. It supports a large part of the SQL
standard and offers many modern features:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc" compact>
<li>complex queries</li>
<li>foreign keys</li>
<li>triggers</li>
<li>views</li>
<li>transactional integrity</li>
<li>multiversion concurrency control</li>
</ul></div>
<p>
Also, <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> can be extended by the
user in many ways, for example by adding new
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc" compact>
<li>data types</li>
<li>functions</li>
<li>operators</li>
<li>aggregate functions</li>
<li>index methods</li>
<li>procedural languages</li>
</ul></div>
<p>
</p>
<p> And because of the liberal license,
<span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> can be used, modified, and
distributed by everyone free of charge for any purpose, be it
private, commercial, or academic.
</p>
</div>
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