Very Practical, Very PostgreSQL

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.

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.

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.

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.

Other Reviews

• Written ages ago
• Nice for PostgreSQL intro, but not a master piece
• Very Practical, Very PostgreSQL
• The critics are unfair, this book is VERY good
• Excellent book, Learning PostgreSQL a better title