Newbie (to postgres) question

Hello all,

First of all, accept my apologies for what is surely a dumb question,
and yes i have been reading extensively through all the documents, but i
really need to ask this.. :)

I have recently started the migration of a large ex-MySql database to
postgresql, and im still "adapting" to the new tweaks of this new (to
me) environment.

My question is basically... how does postgresql deal with the equivalent
of "permanent connections of mysql"?
Alongside with the database, i have an extensive amount of .c code that
used to just reuse sockets if they were already in an open state (and
only if needed new one(s) would be open). It's an application that will
run as a standalone, but many times per minute, so the reusage is indeed
a must for me.

I have substituted the "mysql_ping"s with PQconnectPolls just to see if
the behaviour would be alike, and right now that seems to work, but i'm
in a standstill regarding the sockets and permanent connection usage.

Any help/directions someone might give me will be deeply appreciated.

Regards,
\\pb