The Open Source Zone

This book used to be a good reference for PostgreSQL 7.4. However there is much more to PostgreSQL nowadays then it was six years ago.

This book has a problem that I guess most SQL books suffer from. It has a very long introduction to SQL itself. Which is not bad if you are a complete beginner. The book is somewhat boring to read, without that additional value because of which you buy a book. It lacks additional information on advanced PostgreSQL features, programming in PL/pgsql, replication, administration and some other interesting topics. On the other hand it's not that "practical" but rather a PostgreSQL reference.

All in all this book has too much reference which makes it hard to read. With that and the fact it is somewhat outdated, you might want to decide on skipping it.

The book covers the basics of PostgreSQL, but it lacks usefull info for the more avanced tasks like tuning the database.
The 'stored procedure' (PL/pgSQL) chapter was for me the only interesting part of this book for me.
When I bought this I was hoping for the PostgreSQL 'Bible', but it was a big dissapointment.

My advice for improvement for the next release:
- much better index
- drop LXP chapter
- chapter about how to tune (not just SQL statements, but the postgreSQL server itself) and benchmark PostgreSQL.
- a chapter about 'schema' and when to use them.
- extend PL/pgSQL chapter with some 'real world' examples and how to do PL/pgSQL trouble shooting, PL/Perl(?)

- general advice how to manage PostgreSQL on 'day to day' basis
- maybe have a chapter about the SLONY replication add-on
- Postgresql 8.0 features

The Command Prompt guys did a fine job of writing this book. It contains basic topics, like retrieving rows from a table, and advanced topics, like session encryption, JDBC, and PL/pgSQL, and everything in between. A very complete SQL command listing is available at the back of the book, as well, for those times when you can't quite remember proper syntax.<p>Furthermore, it covers all the tools provided with PostgreSQL distributions (vacuumdb, etc.) and has a chapter on the included LXP software, which I haven't tried because I don't need it.<p>This text, in conjunction with Programming the Perl DBI, got me from a PostgreSQL/DBI newbie to accidentally memorizing common SQL syntax, writing my own Perl DBI wrapper, and programming some simpler PL/pgSQL functions in about four days.<p>I highly recommend it both as a tutorial and as a reference. Be warned, though -- the index is a bit sparse. Using it as a reference might require putting sticky tabs at the tops of your pages, as I've done.

I wanted to buy this book a few months ago, but after reading the reviews I relented. Finally, a few weeks ago I needed a book on PostgreSQL and it was the only one available, so I bought it. Since then I have referred to it almost everyday in my database programming duties. It is well made, well presented and goes into minute details that other books simply skip.<p>Normally I would have given this book 4 stars, but after being misled by the bad reviews below I decided it well deserved the extra star. My only concern with this book, is that it leaves out PHP, which is a shame. Because most people I know use PHP to interface the web with PostgreSQL.<p>if you need a book on the best Open Source database at the present, then this book should be amongst your top picks.

This is an excellent book to begin learning about the most advanced open source database available, it covers the theory and history of PostgreSQL and includes instructions on installing the database server.<p>The authors clearly explain the topics covered in the book, I've given the book to several co-workers who were interested in the book and they also view it favorably.<p>I recommend this book to the person interested in learning more about PostgreSQL or the person who has never used a database server before.<p>This book does not get into the advanced features of PostgreSQL but all in all this is a quality reference and handbook, perhaps better named as Learning PostgreSQL.