PostgreSQL, Second Edition

A Sample Database

Throughout this book, I'll use a simple example database to help explain some of the more complex concepts. The sample database represents some of the data storage and retrieval requirements that you might encounter when running a video rental store. I won't pretend that the sample database is useful for any real-world scenarios; instead, this database will help us explore how PostgreSQL works and should illustrate many PostgreSQL features.

To begin with, the sample database (which is called movies) contains three kinds of records: customers, tapes, and rentals.

Whenever a customer walks into our imaginary video store, you will consult your database to determine whether you already know this customer. If not, you'll add a new ...