PostgreSQL is an open-source, object-relational (also called extended relational) database management system. Modern relational database features in PostgreSQL include complex queries, foreign keys, triggers, updatable views, transactional integrity, and multi-version concurrency control. Users can extend PostgreSQL with new data types, functions, operators, aggregate functions, index methods, and procedural languages.
With more than 20 years of development and deployment behind it, PostgreSQL is a solid open-source database that rivals even commercial relational databases in many respects. You can install it on Linux (all recent distributions), Windows (Windows 2000 SP4 and later), FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, MacOS, AIX, HP/UX, and Solaris. You can also find a hosted high-performance version of PostgreSQL in Amazon Aurora, and a wire-compatible distributed implementation in CockroachDB.
From here on in, I will use the names PostgreSQL and Postgres (not all-caps) interchangeably, as is the general practice. I can pronounce Postgres; I never know whether to say Post-gres-Q-L or Post-gres-sequel.
In this tutorial, we will step through installing PostgreSQL, connecting to the database, loading some data, and running a variety of SQL queries. To cap it all off, we’ll execute a query against two related tables by using SQL join clauses. Along the way, I will suggest some GUI clients for Postgres you might want to use, and provide a brief overview of useful PostgreSQL extensions. Finally, I’ll leave you with a few good references to help you take your next steps with Postgres and SQL.
