I have created an acronyms documentation section for the 8.3 Postgres
manual. It is at:
http://momjian.us/main/writings/pgsql/sgml/acronyms.html
I used some of your suggestions in the list. Comments? Additions?
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Steve Crawford wrote:
> Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> > Steve Crawford wrote:
> >> Is there a comprehensive (or semi-comprehensive) on-line list of
> >> commonly used PG-related abbreviations used in PostgreSQL documentation,
> >> mail-lists, etc.? If there is not, would such a list make a reasonable
> >> one-page addition to the PG manual?
> >
> > I don't think we have one, but IMHO it would be an excellent idea. We
> > do have some abbreviations, e.g. HOT, TOAST, WAL are the ones that
> > jump immediately to mind (besides the ones you mentioned).
> >
>
> My vote is to add "Appendix I. Abbreviations". Don't know if it's
> practical for 8.3 documentation but it would be nice to add even if it
> only has a few entries as additional ones could be collected via the
> user notes.
>
> I suggest as a discussion starting-point the following inclusion criteria:
>
> 1. Any abbreviation/acronym that appears in the PostgreSQL documentation
> (even if those terms may not be PG specific - we shouldn't assume that
> everyone knows them). Good documentation practice recommends defining
> abbreviations the first time they are used. Better still, ensure that
> they are in the abbreviation list.
>
> 2. PostgreSQL-specific abbreviations/acronyms commonly used in on-line
> conversations, news-releases, notes, etc. even if not (or not yet) in
> the official documentation.
>
> 3. Abbreviations/acronyms that do not meet criteria 1 or 2 but which are
> likely to clarify PG related conversations (optional, lower priority and
> within the limitations of avoiding appendix bloat).
>
> So BSD, STONITH, DBA, DBMS, RDBMS, GEQO would meet both criteria 1 and
> criteria 2.
>
> GUC and DDL (currently) only meet the second criteria.
>
> A starter list mostly gleaned from PG documentation (typing defs quickly
> and from memory - feel free to make corrections):
>
> BKI - Backend Interface
> CID - Command Identifier
> CLI - Call Level Interface / Command Line Interface
> CVE - Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures
> CVS - Concurrent Version System
> DBA - Database Administrator
> DBMS - Database Management System
> DDL - Data Definition Language
> DML - Data Manipulation Language
> DSN - Data Source Name
> ECPG - Embedded SQL in C ??
> GEQO - Genetic Query Optimizer
> GIN - Generalized Inverted Index
> GIST - Generalized Search Tree
> GNU - Gnu's Not Unix
> GSSAPI - Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface
> GUC - Global User Configuration
> HOT - Heap Oriented Tuples
> IEC - International Electrotechnical Commission
> ISO - International Standards Organization
> JDBC - Java Database Connectivity
> JRT - Java Routines and Types
> LDAP - Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
> MED - Management of External Data
> MVCC - Multi Version Concurrency Control
> NLS - Natural Language Support
> ODBC - Open Database Connectivity
> OID - Object Identifier
> OLAP - Online Analytical Processing
> OLB - Object Language Bindings
> PAM - Pluggable Authentication Modules
> PITR - Point In Time Recovery
> POSIX - Portable Operating System Interface
> PSM - Persistent Stored Modules
> RPM - Redhat Package Manager
> SSPI - Security Support Provider Interface
> SQL - Structured Query Language
> SSL - Secure Sockets Layer
> STONITH - Shoot The Other Node In The Head
> TOAST - The Oversize Attribute Storage Technique
> UUID - Universally Unique Identifier
> WAL - Write Ahead Log
> XID - Transaction Identifier
> XML - Extensible Markup Language
>
> Cheers,
> Steve
>
> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> TIP 9: In versions below 8.0, the planner will ignore your desire to
> choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not
> match
--
Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> http://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB http://postgres.enterprisedb.com
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