On 4/11/06, Simon Dale <sdale@xxxxxx> wrote: > I'm trying to evaluate PostgreSQL as a database that will have to store a > high volume of data and access that data frequently. One of the features on > our wish list is to be able to use stored procedures to access the data and > I was wondering if it is usual for stored procedures to perform slower on > PostgreSQL than raw SQL? pl/pgsql procedures are a very thin layer over the query engine. Generally, they run about the same speed as SQL but you are not making apples to apples comparison. One of the few but annoying limitations of pl/pgsql procedures is that you can't return a select directly from the query engine but have to go through the return/return next paradigm which will be slower than raw query for obvious reasons. You can however return a refcursor and you may want to look at them in situations where you want to return arbitrary sets outside the query engine or between pl/pgsql functions. An example of using refcurors in that way is on my blog at http://people.planetpostgresql.org/merlin/index.php?/archives/2-Dealing-With-Recursive-Sets-With-PLPGSQL.html Generally, in my opinion if you want to really unlock the power of postgresql you have to master pl/pgsql. Go for it...it will work and work well. merlin merlin
