intro.sgml
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数据库系统

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Unix_Linux

  1.  <chapter id="intro">
  2.   <title>Introduction</title>
  3.   <para>
  4.    This document is the user  manual  for  the  
  5.    <ulink url="http://postgresql.org/"><productname>PostgreSQL</productname></ulink>
  6.    database  management system, originally developed at the University
  7.    of California at  Berkeley.   
  8.    <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>  is  based  on
  9.    <ulink url="http://s2k-ftp.CS.Berkeley.EDU:8000/postgres/postgres.html">
  10.     <productname>Postgres release 4.2</productname></ulink>. 
  11.    The <productname>Postgres</productname> project, 
  12.    led by Professor Michael Stonebraker, was sponsored  by  the
  13.    Defense  Advanced Research Projects Agency (<acronym>DARPA</acronym>), the
  14.    Army Research Office (<acronym>ARO</acronym>), the National Science  
  15.    Foundation (<acronym>NSF</acronym>), and ESL, Inc.
  16.   </para>
  17.   <sect1>
  18.    <title> What is <productname>Postgres</productname>?</title>
  19.    <para>
  20.     Traditional   relational  database  management  systems
  21.     (DBMSs) support a data model consisting of a collection
  22.     of named relations, containing attributes of a specific
  23.     type.  In current commercial  systems,  possible  types
  24.     include  floating  point  numbers,  integers, character
  25.     strings, money, and dates.  It is  commonly  recognized
  26.     that  this model is inadequate for future data 
  27.     processing applications.
  28.     The relational  model  successfully  replaced  previous
  29.     models  in  part  because  of its "Spartan simplicity".
  30.     However, as mentioned, this simplicity often makes  the
  31.     implementation  of  certain applications very difficult.
  32.     <productname>Postgres</productname> offers  substantial  additional
  33.     power  by  incorporating  the following four additional
  34.     basic concepts in such a way that  users  can  easily
  35.     extend the system:
  36.     <simplelist>
  37.      <member>classes</member>
  38.      <member>inheritance</member>
  39.      <member>types</member>
  40.      <member>functions</member>
  41.     </simplelist>
  42.    </para>
  43.    <para>
  44.     Other features provide additional power and flexibility:
  45.     <simplelist>
  46.      <member>constraints</member>
  47.      <member>triggers</member>
  48.      <member>rules</member>
  49.      <member>transaction integrity</member>
  50.     </simplelist>
  51.    </para>
  52.    <para>
  53.     These features put <productname>Postgres</productname> into the category of databases
  54.     referred to as <firstterm>object-relational</firstterm>. Note that this is distinct
  55.     from those referred to as <firstterm>object-oriented</firstterm>, which in general
  56.     are not as well suited to supporting the traditional relational database languages.
  57.     So, although <productname>Postgres</productname> has some object-oriented features,
  58.     it is firmly in the relational database world. In fact, some commercial databases
  59.     have recently incorporated features pioneered by <productname>Postgres</productname>.
  60.    </para>
  61.   </sect1>
  62.    &history;
  63.    &about;
  64.    &info;
  65.    &notation;
  66.    &y2k;
  67.    &legal;
  68.  </chapter>
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