The purpose of this document is to provide comprehensive list of pointers/URLs to quickly setup PostgreSQL and also to advocate the benefits of Open Source Code system like PostgreSQL, Linux.
Each and every computer system in the world needs a database to store/retrieve the information. The primary reason you use the computer is to store, retrieve and process information and do all these very quickly, thereby saving you time. At the same time, the system must be simple, robust, fast, reliable, economical and very easy to use. Database is the most VITAL SYSTEM as it stores mission critical information of every company in this world. The most popular database systems are based on the International Standard Organisation (ISO) SQL specifications, which in turn is based on ANSI SQL (American) standards. The most current specifications widely used in the industry are ISO/ANSI SQL 1992. Upcoming standard is the SQL 1998/99 which is also called SQL-3 is still under development. Popular database like Oracle, Sybase and Informix systems are based on these standards or are trying to implement these standards.
There are more than 20 varieties of commercial/internet database systems which are being used in the world and many more will be coming in the near future. Without a standard like ANSI/ISO SQL, it would be very difficult for the customer to develop a application once and run on all the database systems. Customer wants to develop an application ONCE using ISO SQL, ODBC, JDBC and deploy on all varieties of database systems in the world.
The world's most popular FREE Database which implements some of the ISO SQL, ANSI SQL/98, SQL/92 and ANSI SQL/89 RDBMS is PostgreSQL. PostgreSQL is next generation Object relational database and the future ANSI SQL standards like SQL 1998 (SQL-3) and beyond will increasingly deal with Object databases and Object data types. PostgreSQL is the only free RDBMS in the world which supports Object databases and SQL. This document will tell you how-to install the database, how to set up the Web database, application database, front end GUIs and interface programs. It is strongly advised that you MUST write your database applications 100 % compliant to standards of ISO/ANSI SQL, ODBC, JDBC so that your application is portable across multiple databases like PostgreSQL, Oracle, Sybase, Informix etc.
You get the highest quality, and lot many features with PostgreSQL as it follows 'Open Source Code development model'. Open Source Code model is the one where the complete source code is given to you and the development takes place on the internet by a extremely vast network of human brains. Future trend shows that most of the software development will take place on the so called "Information Super-Highway" which spans the whole globe. In the coming years, internet growth will be explosive which will further fuel rapid adoption of PostgreSQL by the database community.
By applying the principles of statistics, mathematics and science to software quality, you get the best quality of software only in a 'Open Source Code System' like PostgreSQL, wherein the source code is open to a very vast number of human brains inter-connected by the information super-highway. Greater the number of human brains working, the better will be the quality of software. Open Source Code model will also prevent RE-INVENTION OF WHEELS, eliminates DUPLICATION OF WORK and will be very economical, saves time in distribution and follows the modern economic laws of optimizing the national and global resources. Once a software work is done by others, than you DO NOT need to re-do that again. You will not be wasting your valuable time on something which had already been WELL DONE. Your time is extremely precious and it must be utilized efficiently, because you have only 8 hours per day for doing work!! As we will be entering the 21st century, there will be a change in the way that you get software for your use. Customers will give first preference for the open systems software like PostgreSQL, Linux, etc...
If you buy binaries, you will not get any equity and ownership of source code. Source code is a very valuable asset and binaries have no value. Buying software may become a thing of the past. You only need to buy good hardware, it is worth spending money on the hardware and get the software from internet. Important point is that it is the computer hardware which is doing bulk of the work. Hardware is the real work horse and software is just driving it. Computer hardware is so much more complex that only 6 nations out of 180 countries in the world so far have demonstrated the capability of designing and manufacturing computer chips/hardware. Design and manufacturing of computer chips is a advanced technology. It is a very complex process, capital intensive, requires large investments in plant and production machines which deal with 0.18 micron technology. On a single small silicon chip millions of transistors/circuits are densely packed. Companies like Applied Material, AMD, Intel, Cyrix, Hitachi, IBM and others spent significant number of man-years to master the high-technology like Chip Design, Micro-electronics and Nano-electronics. Micro means (one-millionth of meter 10^-6), Nano means (one-billionth of meter 10^-9). Current technology uses micro-electronics of about 0.35 micron using aluminum as conductors and 0.25 micron sizes using copper as conductors of electrons. In near future the technology of 0.10 micron with copper and even nano-electronics will be used to make computer chips. Aluminum conductors will be phased out by copper on computer chips, as copper is a better conductor of electrons. In photolithography process extreme ultraviolet, X-ray or electron-beam techniques will be used to etch circuits for feature size less than 0.15 micron. In about 20 years from now, silicon chips will be phased out by molecular computers and bio chips which will be billions of times faster than silicon chips. Molecules are a group of atoms. And atoms are tiny particles which makes up everything that you see in this world. Molecular computers will use the molecules of matter as ultra-fast electronic on/off switches. When the switch is ON it indicates 1, and when it is OFF it indicates 0. All the computer programs in this world are based on binary (numbers 1 and 0). Table below shows the progress and future advancement trends of computer chips.
Advancement of chip capabilities in future
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+--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+
| Item/Year | 1997 | 1999 | 2001 | 2003 | 2012 | 2020 |
+--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+
| Feature size(micron) | 0.25 | 0.18 | 0.15 | 0.13 | 0.05 |< 0.00001|
+--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+
| Wafer size(mm) | 200 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 450 | Mol/Bio |
+--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+
| Min Operating Voltage | 1.8-2.5 | 1.5-1.8 | 1.2-1.5 | 1.2-1.5 | 0.5-0.6| < 0.001 |
+--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+
| Max power dissipation | 70 | 90 | 110 | 130 | 175 | 600 |
+--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+
| On-chip frequencey (MHz) | 750 | 1,250 | 1,500 | 2,100 | 10,000 | > 50,000|
+--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+
| DRAM capacity | 256 MB | 1 GB | 2 GB | 4 GB | 256 GB | > 1000GB|
+--------------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+--------+---------+
On other hand, each and every country in the world develops/makes software. In fact, any person in this world with a small low-cost PC can create a Oracle database server system. But it would take him about 10 years (Oracle database server is about 10 man-years of work). One man-year is one person working full-time for one full year. If 10 people work for a year than it is 10 man-years spent.
Databases like Oracle, Informix, Sybase, IBM DB2 (Unix) are written using the "C" language and binaries are created by compiling the source code and than they are shipped out to customers. Oracle, Sybase, Informix databases are 100 % "C" programs!!
Since a lot of work had been done on PostgreSQL for the past 12 years, it does not make sense to re-create from scratch another database system which satisfies ANSI/ISO SQL. It will be a great advantage to take the existing code and add missing features or enhancements to PostgreSQL and start using it immediately.
PostgreSQL is not just a free database but it is a good quality 'Internet Product'. Prediction is that demand for "Made in Internet" products will grow exponentially as it is capable of maintaining a high quality, low cost, extremely large user-base and developer-base. Those nations who do not use the 'Made in Internet' products will be seriously missing "World-wide Internet Revolution" and will be left far behind other countries. The reason is "Internet" itself is the world's LARGEST software company!