Hacking PostgreSQL: Data Access Methods

This course is about data storage and data processing technologies with examples from PostgreSQL. It is geared toward database core developers, operation systems developers, system architects, and all those who want to understand databases in more detail.

PostgreSQL is considered the most advanced free open-source database engine. It is developed by a community of hackers around the world - some of them are students just like you!

In this course, you will learn how to use PostgreSQL indices, how to change them according to your demands, and how to implement your ideas and give back to thecommunity.

Section 1. General purpose algorithms.
Topic 1: Introduction to PostgreSQL. Core concepts and source code structure.
Topic 2: Developer tools. Querying and coding.
Topic 3: B-tree. Idea, implementation, query analysis.

Section 2. Special algorithms to tackle specific problems, including PostgreSQL’s approach.
Topic 4: Paged memory organization.
Topic 5: Write-ahead log. Point-in-time recovery.
Topic 6: Generalized index search tree (GiST).

Section 3. Specific algorithms implemented only in PostgreSQL.
Topic 7: PostgreSQL extensions. cube and smlar.
Topic 8: Full text search. Generalized inverted index (GIN).
Topic 9: PostgreSQL development lifecycle. Mailing lists and commitfests.