Re: PostgreSQL Function Language Performance: C vs PL/PGSQL

On Fri, 28 May 2010, Merlin Moncure wrote:
> At best, if you are a ninja with the marginally documented backend
> api, you will create code that goes about as fast as your pl/pgsql
> function for 10 times the amount of input work, unless there are heavy
> amounts of 'other than sql' code in your function. The reason to
> write C in the backend is:
>
> *) Interface w/3rd party libraries w/C linkage
> *) Do things that are illegal in regular SQL (write files, etc)
> *) Make custom types

The major case I found when writing pl/pgsql was when trying to build
arrays row by row. AFAIK when I tried it, adding a row to an array caused
the whole array to be copied, which put a bit of a damper on performance.

Matthew

--
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