AGE Onboarding - Learn Postgres Basics Group 1

[JoshInnis]

Read Chapter 1-3: https://www.interdb.jp/

[MuhammadTahaNaveed]

Acknowleged.

[RC-002]

Excited to start!

[aru-d-at]

Ok got it!

[Munmud]

Hi! this is good, excited to start on AGE project

[maazzzzz]

acknowledged

[muneebkhan4]

I am excited to start work.

[GhostVaibhav]

Excited to work on the project!

[MatheusFarias03]

Looking forward to getting started with the AGE project!

[intrigued-rishi]

Hi! excited to start working on the AGE project

[markgomer]

Hello! I'm excited to start working with you all!

[abdinabi123]

@maazzzzz @GhostVaibhav @Munmud @MuhammadTahaNaveed @muneebkhan4 Hi guys! If you have completed all 3 chapters please write a short summary of what you have read and learned. You can leave your summary here on the comments below. Thanks

[MatheusFarias03]

From reading the three first chapters of "The Internals of PostgreSQL", I have learned how the database cluster is structured (both physically and logically), the processes and memory architecture (backend processes, the local and shared memory area), the query processing, how the backend process handles the queries, how it is structured in five subsystems (parser, analyser, rewriter, planner and executor). Also learned how some join operations function, like the merge join, nested loop join and the hash join.

[GhostVaibhav]

@abdinabi123 Surely, I learned about the logical and physical structure of a database cluster, whilst also learning about the heap table file and the methods for reading and writing in that. In the second chapter, I learned about the process architecture in a Postgres database while also shedding light on the various backend processes (the server process, backend process, worker process, etc.). In addition to that, I also learned about the memory architecture of Postgres (local and shared). In the third chapter, I broadly learned about query processing which further bifurcates into five subsystems (namely parser, analyzer, rewriter, planner, and executor) with a brief introduction to all. I also learned about the cost estimation of a query (in particular of the sequential scan, sort, and index scan). I also learned about the creation of a plan tree, the role of the executor, and the various join operations (merge join, nested loop join, and hash join). The third chapter was a bit intensive in terms of the keywords as well as the concepts involved (I couldn't understand it fully😅).

[markgomer]

I learned about the logical and physical structures of Database cluster, the layout of the database clusters, the databases, the files associated with tables and indexes, and the tablespaces. Read about the internal layout of a heap table file, and the methods of writing and reading tuples. In chapter 2 we learn about the process and memory architectures, how the PostgreSQL server is composed by a postgres server process, that is a parent of all in a PostgreSQL server, which is called 'postmaster' in the version we are working on. The chapter 3 explains the query processing and it consists in five subsystems: parser, analyzer, rewriter, planner and executor. It also shows the process of cost estimation, creating the plan tree, and how the executor and join operations work.

[MuhammadTahaNaveed]

Chapter 1 explained about the structure of database cluster(both physically and logically using OIDs), different files in database cluster and their description, layout of heap table file(where the actual table rows are stored),methods of reading heap tuples(seq scan and B-Tree index scan) and writing tuples into heap table. Chapter 2 explained about the processes(postgres server process and its child processes which can be either backend or background process), how processes allocate a local memory area and use Shared-memory area. Chapter 3 explained about the five subsystems(parser, analyzer, rewriter, planner and executor) of the backend process(which handles queries), cost estimation of methods of reading heap tuples(seq scan and index scan) and lastly working of different join methods.

[Munmud]

By Reading those 3 chapter I have gone through ->

• Logical and Physical cluster of Database cluster
• Layout
• Process Architecture
• memory Architecture
• Different steps of query processing : parser, analyzer, rewrite, planner, executor
• Cost Estimation in Single-Table Query
• Different join operation Also going through youtube playlist Postgresql DBA - Learn From The scratch

[muneebkhan4]

First 3 Chapters of The Internals of PostgreSQL

The short and compact summary Points which I have read and understand are given below:

Chapter-1 Database Cluster, Databases, and Tables

• The logical structure of a database cluster
• The physical structure of a database cluster
• The internal layout of a heap table file
• The methods of writing and reading data to a table I understood the actually working behind the database and how actually things are stored and managed. I also get to know about the oid and things like relfilenode, '_fsm' and '_vm'.

Chapter-2 Process and Memory Architecture

• Process Architecture
• Memory Architecture I understood different processes that run when we create and run a database server. The client-server architecture understanding in action and real-world example. I also get to know about server, background, and backend processes. The maximum default connections (100) and how to set them manually. The working memory and shared memory roles. I also learned about pgbouncer or pgpool-II for handling frequently connection disconnection request.

Chapter-3 Query Processing

• Parser
• Analyzer
• Rewriter
• Planner
• Executor I had done Compiler Construction in my Degree. I have got good understanding of the in depth understanding of Query Processing by reading this Chapter. I also got more knowledge about cost methodology PostgreSQL use and also came to know about the cost of running different query operations in depth. In addition, I read about the creation of Plan Tree for Single and Multi-Table Query, getting Cheapest Path, Hash Merge Nested Loop Join. I found it very much efficient, and I found real-world application of Dynamic Programming in getting cheapest path.

[maazzzzz]

Chapter 1 learned about internal logical structure of PG clusters and databases; how PG stores and manages db objects; how db files are stored( heap tables files and pages) ; how are db files written and read (seq scan and index scans). Chapter 2 learned about the memory and process architecture of a PG host instance. Chapter 3 got an overview of the the query processing pipeline; learned about how PG handles a query; how costs associated with it are calculated. how different joins work and their associated costs.

[intrigued-rishi]

Chapter 1: Learnt about how the Database cluster works in PostgreSQL and also how the server manages the flow of the cluster. Then went through the internal physical structure of the database cluster and how the base directory, database objects, files, indexes are organised in a hierarchical manner. Also studied about the internal layout of the Heap table file and how pages and tuples are organised.

Chapter 2: Learnt about the Process and Memory architecture of PostgreSQL. The Postgres server process, the various backend and worker processes consist of the main few processes in Postgres. Also studied about the various local and shared memory present in Postgres

Chapter 3: Learnt about the various steps of Query processing about how a simple query is parsed, analysed and taken for execution. Discovered how a plan tree is constructed to represent the flow of action. Also looked into how cost estimation is made for the different scans like sequential, index scan etc. and also for the different JOIN operations.

[RC-002]

Summary of what I learnt from the first 3 chapters of "The Internals of PostgreSQL"

Chapter 1: This was the first time I heard that there was a Database cluter. I learnt what it is, it's logical and physical structure. I learnt about the various configuration files in the cluster. Tablespaces was an interesting concept and I learnt more about it from the official PostgreSQL docs. The addressing and the directory structure of files and pages was new and rather intuitive. Finally, I learnt about the heap table file and the 2 methods of writing and reading them.

Chapter 2: I learnt about the process architecture of PostgreSQL. Acuum process was new to me and I learnt about it from the official docs. I read about the vaarious processes involved. Finally, I went through the memory architecture and the buffers invloved.

Chapter 3: I learnt about the parser and generation of parse trees. The analyzer was new and I read about parsenodes.h and its contents. The logic behind the planner and executor working was not very intuitive for me and I have a newfound appreciation for the same. The three costs - start-up, run and total, cost_seqscan and cost_index functions, random page costs and indexes. I then learnt about the plan tree and the steps involved in its creation. I already knew the join operations but I was able to learn the einternals of how they work. Finally, I read about the parse tree for multi-table queries and how to find the cheapest path.

[Zainab-Saad]

Hi, I am excited to work on this project

[AdeelAhmedIqbal]

Hello everyone! I’m happy to be a part of this team and looking forward to getting started with this project.

[CapnSpek]

Looking forward to contribute to this project!

[Umairius]

Greetings everyone, excited to start working on this project. May the odds be in our favour.