A different approach: Where to learn?

Hi all,
after eight years of using MySQL I learned about pgsql and I'm evaluating if it's the case to use it on a new coming project where reliability is a must.

I've seen that pgsql is a DBMS that is "object oriented", that's mean that the data can be organized not only as tables with data to join on relations but also on object that can simplify the management of "real world data": WOW!

I searched on Amazon for books explaining how to unleash the full power of an "object oriented data base" but I've found books explaining the basic of SQL (how to select, how to insert, joins between tables) that are concepts that I already know; I think that a revolutionary product like pgsql is, needs a different approach on design and query; now the question:

Can you suggest books and / or websites where this different approach (if needed) can be learn? Is my idea about this "different approach" totally wrong and pgsql is not so different than other DBMS?

Thanks a lot.
Francesco

On Tuesday, July 24, 2012 02:30:31 PM fpiraneo(at)gmail(dot)com wrote:
> Can you suggest books and / or websites where this different approach (if
> needed) can be learn? Is my idea about this "different approach" totally
> wrong and pgsql is not so different than other DBMS?

PostgreSQL is not an object-oriented database.

It has table inheritance, which is most often used to simplify partitioning,
but it is just a very good relational database.

--
When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society but for society to
give to them, when the freedom they wished for most was freedom from
responsibility, then Athens ceased to be free and was never free again.” --
Edward Gibbon

fpiraneo(at)gmail(dot)com wrote on 24.07.2012 23:30:
> I've seen that pgsql is a DBMS that is "object oriented"

No, it's an "object-relational" DBMS - but at it's core is still a relational
database (and that's what it is used for mostly)

Table inheritance is usually only applied to implement partitioning, not so much to
implement a real "object hierarchy".

I'm far from a PostgreSQL expert myself, but the way I taught myself was by
using their GUI, pgAdmin III, and just poking around. Postgres has a lot
more features than MySQL including a much richer set of datatypes (though
be careful with this: I got a little bit too excited when I discovered
arrays and made my schema less relational than it should have been). It
supports table inheritance which I found convenient. But at it's core, it's
a relational database and the kind of relational schema you are used to
from MySQL should work the same here.

-Alessandro

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 2:30 PM, <fpiraneo(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

> Hi all,
> after eight years of using MySQL I learned about pgsql and I'm evaluating
> if it's the case to use it on a new coming project where reliability is a
> must.
>
> I've seen that pgsql is a DBMS that is "object oriented", that's mean that
> the data can be organized not only as tables with data to join on relations
> but also on object that can simplify the management of "real world data":
> WOW!
>
> I searched on Amazon for books explaining how to unleash the full power of
> an "object oriented data base" but I've found books explaining the basic of
> SQL (how to select, how to insert, joins between tables) that are concepts
> that I already know; I think that a revolutionary product like pgsql is,
> needs a different approach on design and query; now the question:
>
> Can you suggest books and / or websites where this different approach (if
> needed) can be learn? Is my idea about this "different approach" totally
> wrong and pgsql is not so different than other DBMS?
>
> Thanks a lot.
> Francesco
>
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