"David E. Wheeler" <david@kineticode.com> writes:
> On Jan 7, 2010, at 2:11 PM, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
>
>> You might want to clarify in your prose what an "extension" is. I
>> suspect I know what you mean, but perhaps not everyone does.
>
> Good suggestion, thanks. How about this in the FAQ?
>
> * WTF is an "extension"?
>
> An extension is a piece of software that adds functionality to
> PostgreSQL itself. Examples are data types (CITEXT, PERIOD), utilities
> (newsysviews, pgTAP), and procedural languages (PL/Ruby, PL/R), among
> others. An extension is *not* a piece of software designed to run on
> top of PostgreSQL (Bricolage, Drupal).
Maybe with a link to: http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/extend.html
In the sections that follow, we will discuss how you can extend the PostgreSQL SQL query language by adding:
- functions (starting in Section 34.3) - aggregates (starting in Section 34.10) - data types (starting in Section
34.11) - operators (starting in Section 34.12) - operator classes for indexes (starting in Section 34.14)
The PostgreSQL server can moreover incorporate user-written code into itself through dynamic loading. That is, the
usercan specify an object code file (e.g., a shared library) that implements a new type or function, and PostgreSQL
willload it as required. Code written in SQL is even more trivial to add to the server. This ability to modify its
operation"on the fly" makes PostgreSQL uniquely suited for rapid prototyping of new applications and storage
structures.
Regards,
--
dim
