Dar Usama - PostgreSQL Server Programming - Second Edition

Usama Dar is a seasoned software developer and architect. During his 14 years' career, he has worked extensively with PostgreSQL and other database technologies. He worked on PostgreSQL internals extensively while he was working for EnterpriseDB. Currently, he lives in Munich where he works for Huawei's European Research Center. He designs the next generation of high-performance database systems based on open source technologies, such as PostgreSQL, which are used under high workloads and strict performance requirements.

Hannu Krosing was a PostgreSQL user before it was rewritten to use SQL as its main query language in 1995. Therefore, he has both the historic perspective of its development, as well as almost 20 years of experience in using it to solve various real-life problems.

He was the first database administrator and database architect at Skype, where he invented the sharding language PL/Proxy that allows you to scale the user database in order to work with billions of users.

After he left Skype at the end of 2006about a year after it was bought by eBayhe has been working as a PostgreSQL consultant with 2ndQuadrant, the premier PostgreSQL consultancy with a global reach and local presence in most parts of the world.

He has coauthored PostgreSQL 9 Administration Cookbook , Packt Publishing , together with one of the main PostgreSQL developers, Simon Riggs.

I want to sincerely thank my wife, Evelyn, for her support while writing this book.

Jim Mlodgenski is the CTO of OpenSCG, a professional services company focused on leveraging open source technologies for strategic advantage. He was formerly the CEO of StormDB, a database cloud company focused on horizontal scalability. Prior to StormDB, he has held highly technical roles at Cirrus Technology, Inc., EnterpriseDB, and Fusion Technologies.

Jim is also a fervent advocate of PostgreSQL. He is on the board of the United States PostgreSQL Association as well as a part of the organizing teams of the New York PostgreSQL User Group and Philadelphia PostgreSQL User Group.

Kirk Roybal has been an active member of the PostgreSQL community since 1998. He has helped organize user groups in Houston, Dallas, and Bloomington, IL. He has mentored many junior database administrators and provided cross-training to senior database engineers. He has provided solutions using PostgreSQL for reporting, business intelligence, data warehousing, applications, and development support.

He saw the scope of PostgreSQL when his first small-scale business customer asked for a web application. At that time, competitive database products were either extremely immature or cost prohibitive.

Kirk has stood by his choice of PostgreSQL for many years now. His expertise is founded on keeping up with features and capabilities as they become available.

Writing a book has been a unique experience for me. Many people fantasize about it, few start one, and even fewer get to publication. I am proud to be part of a team that actually made it to the book shelf (which itself is a diminishing breed). Thanks to Sarah Cullington from Packt Publishing for giving me a chance to participate in the project. I believe that the PostgreSQL community will be better served by this information, and I hope that they receive this as a reward for the time that they have invested in me over the years.

A book only has the value that the readers give it. Thank you to the PostgreSQL community for all the technical, personal, and professional development help you have provided. The PostgreSQL community is a great bunch of people, and I have enjoyed the company of many of them. I hope to contribute more to this project in the future, and I hope you find my contributions as valuable as I find yours.

Thank you to my family for giving me a reason to succeed and for listening to the gobbledygook and nodding appreciatively.

Have you ever had your family ask you what you were doing and answered them with a function? Try it. No, then again, don't try it. They may just have you involuntarily checked in somewhere.

Stephen Frost is a major contributor and committer to PostgreSQL, who has been involved with PostgreSQL since 2002, and has developed features such as the role system and column-level privileges.

He is the chief technology officer at Crunchy Data Solutions, Inc., the PostgreSQL company for Secure Enterprises. He is involved in the advancement of PostgreSQL's capabilities, particularly in the area of security in order to support the needs of government and financial institutions who have strict security and regulatory requirements.

Rick van Hattem is an entrepreneur with a computer science background and a long-time open source developer with vast experience in the C, C++, Python, and Java languages. Additionally, he has worked with most large database servers such as Oracle, MS SQL, and MySQL, but he has been focusing on PostgreSQL since Version 7.4.

He is one of the founders of the Fashiolista.com social network, and until recently, he was the CTO. Here, he used PostgreSQL to scale the feeds for millions of users to show that PostgreSQL can hold up to NoSQL solutions, given some tuning and additional tools. After Fashiolista, he worked as a freelance consultant for several companies, including 2ndQuadrant.