PostgreSQL

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1.  What is PostgreSQL?

PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system (ORDBMS) based on POSTGRES&44; Version 4.2#, 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.

PostgreSQL is an open-source descendant of this original Berkeley code. It supports a large part of the SQL standard and offers many modern features:

  • complex queries

  • foreign keys

  • triggers

  • updatable views

  • transactional integrity

  • multiversion concurrency control

Also, PostgreSQL can be extended by the user in many ways, for example by adding new

  • data types

  • functions

  • operators

  • aggregate functions

  • index methods

  • procedural languages

And because of the liberal license, PostgreSQL can be used, modified, and distributed by anyone free of charge for any purpose, be it private, commercial, or academic.

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