PHP supports a large number of DBMS interfaces. In the last chapter, we covered basic database principles while focusing on the MySQL database interface. In this chapter, we will cover the PostgreSQL interface.
PostgreSQL is open source and a free relational database system. PostgreSQL offers transaction and rollback support out of the box. It also offers a wider range of advanced database features than those found in some other database packages.
For a long time, MySQL was considered faster (with its reduced feature set) and PostgreSQL was considered slower (with its advanced feature set), so the decision to use one over the other generally came down to a trade-off of features versus performance. These days, with MySQL offering more advanced features and PostgreSQL's overall performance improving greatly, the decision is not as clear- cut. In short, you should use the database system that best suits your application, and that may include looking into additional database systems as well.
In the last chapter, we covered the fundamentals of relational database use, including design, normalization, and the Structured Query Language (SQL). If you are unfamiliar with these concepts, we suggest that you read the SQL section in the previous chapter.
In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
PostgreSQL basics
The PHP PostgreSQL interface
Chapter 17's data-driven application, rewritten using PostgreSQL
Chapter 17's database abstraction layer, extended for PostgreSQL