Now that your introduction to PostgreSQL is complete, there are several places to proceed. We have provided the following list as a synopsis of the rest of the book. This is a guideline, so to speak, of what you need to read next.
If would like to install PostgreSQL 7.1.x at this time, then you may continue to Chapter 2.
If you already have PostgreSQL up and running, one of the following options will be more applicable.
If you are new to the SQL language and database queries, then you may continue to Chapter 3.
If you are already familiar with the SQL language and statement structure, you may be more interested in Chapter 4 or Chapter 7. Note that although many of the concepts introduced in Chapter 3 are of a general nature, some of the techniques and concepts presented are specific to PostgreSQL, and the chapter should not be overlooked if you want a comprehensive understanding of the software.
If you have a working knowledge of PostgreSQL as an enduser and you would like to begin setting up the database server, database users and groups, authentication, then you may skip to Part III, Administrating PostgreSQL. This part was written to aid system administrators in initializing, configuring, and managing newly installed or existing PostgreSQL databases.
If you are familiar with PostgreSQL as a database-management system and would like to move directly into technical programming concepts and techniques, read through Part IV, Programming with PostgreSQL. This part of the book contains documentation on PL/pgSQL, the native PostgreSQL procedural language, as well as information and examples on the JDBC interface and the LXP web-based application server.