Postgres offers powerful extensibility features that allow developers to enhance its functionality.

This guide will walk you through creating a basic C extension for Postgres that implements the Verhoeff checksum algorythm.

The Verhoeff algorithm is a checksum for error detection developed by Dutch mathematician Jacobus Verhoeff. It is the first decimal check digit algorithm which detects all single-digit errors, transposition errors involving two adjacent digits.

In 1985 H. Peter Gurmm formally proved that the algorythm worked.

Postgres offers powerful extensibility features that allow developers to enhance its functionality. While building extensions in PL/pgSQL is the simplest approach, creating extensions in C provides superior performance and additional capabilities.

This guide will walk you through creating a basic C extension for Postgres that converts text to title case format.

Required Files

To build a C extension for Postgres, you’ll need:

1. Control file - Specifies extension metadata and loading instructions
2. SQL file - Defines the interface between Postgres and your C code
3. C source file - Contains the implementation code
4. Makefile - Handles compilation and installation

Additionally, two helpful files:

Postgres offers powerful extension capabilities that allow you to enhance its functionality. Even a simple PL/pgSQL extension provides advantages by neatly packaging related functions into a single bundle. This article walks you through creating the simplest form of a Postgres extension using PL/pgSQL.

Required Files

To build a PL/pgSQL extension, you need the following files:

1. Control file: Specifies what the extension is and how Postgres loads it
2. SQL file: Contains the SQL code for the extension
3. Makefile: Provides instructions for installing the extension

Two additional files make installation and testing easier: