Re: Abbreviation list

Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> Steve Crawford wrote:
>> Is there a comprehensive (or semi-comprehensive) on-line list of
>> commonly used PG-related abbreviations used in PostgreSQL documentation,
>> mail-lists, etc.? If there is not, would such a list make a reasonable
>> one-page addition to the PG manual?
>
> I don't think we have one, but IMHO it would be an excellent idea. We
> do have some abbreviations, e.g. HOT, TOAST, WAL are the ones that
> jump immediately to mind (besides the ones you mentioned).
>

My vote is to add "Appendix I. Abbreviations". Don't know if it's
practical for 8.3 documentation but it would be nice to add even if it
only has a few entries as additional ones could be collected via the
user notes.

I suggest as a discussion starting-point the following inclusion criteria:

1. Any abbreviation/acronym that appears in the PostgreSQL documentation
(even if those terms may not be PG specific - we shouldn't assume that
everyone knows them). Good documentation practice recommends defining
abbreviations the first time they are used. Better still, ensure that
they are in the abbreviation list.

2. PostgreSQL-specific abbreviations/acronyms commonly used in on-line
conversations, news-releases, notes, etc. even if not (or not yet) in
the official documentation.

3. Abbreviations/acronyms that do not meet criteria 1 or 2 but which are
likely to clarify PG related conversations (optional, lower priority and
within the limitations of avoiding appendix bloat).

So BSD, STONITH, DBA, DBMS, RDBMS, GEQO would meet both criteria 1 and
criteria 2.

GUC and DDL (currently) only meet the second criteria.

A starter list mostly gleaned from PG documentation (typing defs quickly
and from memory - feel free to make corrections):

BKI - Backend Interface
CID - Command Identifier
CLI - Call Level Interface / Command Line Interface
CVE - Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures
CVS - Concurrent Version System
DBA - Database Administrator
DBMS - Database Management System
DDL - Data Definition Language
DML - Data Manipulation Language
DSN - Data Source Name
ECPG - Embedded SQL in C ??
GEQO - Genetic Query Optimizer
GIN - Generalized Inverted Index
GIST - Generalized Search Tree
GNU - Gnu's Not Unix
GSSAPI - Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface
GUC - Global User Configuration
HOT - Heap Oriented Tuples
IEC - International Electrotechnical Commission
ISO - International Standards Organization
JDBC - Java Database Connectivity
JRT - Java Routines and Types
LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
MED - Management of External Data
MVCC - Multi Version Concurrency Control
NLS - Natural Language Support
ODBC - Open Database Connectivity
OID - Object Identifier
OLAP - Online Analytical Processing
OLB - Object Language Bindings
PAM - Pluggable Authentication Modules
PITR - Point In Time Recovery
POSIX - Portable Operating System Interface
PSM - Persistent Stored Modules
RPM - Redhat Package Manager
SSPI - Security Support Provider Interface
SQL - Structured Query Language
SSL - Secure Sockets Layer
STONITH - Shoot The Other Node In The Head
TOAST - The Oversize Attribute Storage Technique
UUID - Universally Unique Identifier
WAL - Write Ahead Log
XID - Transaction Identifier
XML - Extensible Markup Language

Cheers,
Steve