Re: REALLY stupid question

Rebecca Jones wrote:
> Greetings, all -
>
> Now that I've installed version 8.3.4 on my WinXP HP laptop, how do I
> interface with the RDBMS?  I know how to start and stop the server,
> even without really knowing what I'm doing thereby.  But when I
> activate the SQL command window I'm faced with having to supply
> several parameters that I don't recall setting and haven't a clue why
> I'd need to set them, i.e. "server", "port", etc.  I can live without
> a hand-holding interface like Access provides, but I need a little
> middle ground here - what's the application I should be using to
> create, load, etc. DBs?
>
> I do have some SQL experience, but it's all in a canned, administered
> environment such as host-based DB2 or stand-alone Access.  I have no
> experience as a DBA, so you can see how clueless I truly am ...

Hi Rebecca,

As others have mentioned, psql should already be available, and
PgAdminIII is an excellent client for administrators and developers. It
displays and allows you to update just about every option and feature in
the server. It also provides a hierarchical view of the DBMS, and any
databases, schema's, roles, views, scripts, etc. that are in there.

After that, it depends on your applications and tools. With a web
server, PHP can be compiled with Postgres support built in. For Perl,
there is DBI with the Postgres DBD drivers. I know there are libraries
around for C and C++, as well as Java and several other languages.
OpenOffice.Base can use it as a back end. If you can provide a few more
details about what you are trying to do, I'm sure there is someone that
can point you in the right direction.

Bob McConnell
N2SPP