Re: Getting Started in Postgresql

Congratulations! You will be very happy with your choices. The only change I would make is 's/Open/Net/g' but that's just me.

Your main concerns are not PostgreSQL or OpenBSD specific. They are

1. Unix-like operating system versus MS Windows. This is a big difference, but the changes are ALL positive. Any book that teaches the basics of *nix system administration will help. There are some good *BSD specific books out there, although I learned Linux (RedHat) and then migrated to NetBSD.

2. Real relational database management system versus "Ronco All In One Database, Report Generator, Application Development System. That's right, it slices, it dices, it Juliennes fries..." Any good book on any good relational database management system will do. The theory is far more important than the syntax or database specific functionality. I learned MS SQL Server and had absolutely no difficulty whatsoever with PostgreSQL.

You are very lucky to be allowed to escape the tyrrany of software that makes you work the way it wants, to software that works the way you want. I went from spending entire 8 hour days trying to figure out how to work around things like the fact that Access did not work as advertised (including cut and paste from the Knowledge Base) or discovering undocumented limitations like the number of nested subqueries, to spending my time developing my application.

Anyway, specifically I recommend Bruce's book for PostgreSQL stuff, and have heard good things about Joe Celko's books on SQL generally. The docs are actually quite good, once you come to understand where things are hidden. I recommend buying them in book form or printing them so you can actually READ them, as opposed to on-line, even though they will be out of date within minutes of being committed to paper. You can always refer to the online copies, but for trying to absorb the gist of the whole thing, paper is better.

Have fun!

Ian Harding
Programmer/Analyst II
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department
iharding(at)tpchd(dot)org
(253) 798-3549

"If any man can convince me and bring home to me that I do not think or act aright, gladly will I change; for I search after truth, by which man never yet was harmed. But he is harmed who abideth on still in his deception and ignorance"

-- Marcus Aurelius

>>> Daniel Anderson <dan3487(at)yahoo(dot)com> 03/12/03 03:26AM >>>
Hi,

At work I was assigned the task of migrating a
very large (and very unmanageable) MS Access
database to a solution that would be massively
scalable and support a number of simultaneous
users and features.[1]

After lengthy study I concluded that Postgresql
running on OpenBSD would be ideal[2]. So now I
am designing and implementing programs to allow a
number of clients to connect to the database over
the network.[3]

I was wondering if anybody could recommend good
books, resources, references, or otherwise
general starting points to help steer me in the
right direction? I've been through the docs and
at this point am just trying to remember
everything (it's quite overwhelming!) But any
suggestions to make the life of a postgres noob
easier would be welcomed. =)

Thanks,

Dan Anderson
Lab Rat and Helper Monkey
Great Lakes Industries, Inc.

[1] I've already figured out that I can save MS
Access files as text and COPY them to the
postgres database.
[2] The discussion of exactly why I chose
OpenBSD and Postgresql is beyond the scope of
this e-mail, but I would be more then happy to
discuss/debate/explain why to anybody who e-mails
me. (dan3487(at)yahoo(dot)com)
[3] Suffice it to say each and every OpenBSD box
needs to completely automate connection to the
database (including the use of barcode scanners)
at a number of different points across the floor,
all connected via 802.11b. So my job is to
design a system and code it to make it work.

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