---
title: "#242: Postgres's Hidden Gems"
publication: "Postgres Weekly"
issue: 242
published_at: "2018-02-07"
canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/242"
---

Postgres Weekly 242   . 

[Read this on the Web](http://postgresweekly.com/issues/242) 

[Postgres Weekly](http://postgresweekly.com) Issue 242 — February 7, 2018     

[Standard SQL Features Where Postgres Beats Its Competitors](https://modern-sql.com/blog/2018-02/standard-sql-features-where-postgresql-beats-its-competitors)Code-heavy slides from a talk given at FOSDEM PgDay that cover filters, BOOLEAN tests, XMLTABLE, and inverse distribution functions. Markus Winand [Postgres's Hidden Gems](http://www.craigkerstiens.com/2018/01/31/postgres-hidden-gems/)A collection of responses to the question: _“Whats your favorite hidden gem of Postgres that you wish more people knew about?”_ Craig Kerstiens#opinion [PostgresConf US 2018: The Largest Postgres Conference Series in the World](https://postgresconf.org/conferences/2018)Happening April 16 - 20 at the Westin Jersey City Newport, we will be featuring two full days of Postgres training opportunities, three days of breakout session content, a large sponsor hall, numerous workshops, a job fair, and more. [Register today](https://postgresconf.org/conferences/2018). PostgresConf.​org#sponsored[![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/d1a1592c.png)](https://postgresconf.org/conferences/2018) [Find The Longest Continuous Number of Days a Stock Went Up](http://tapoueh.org/blog/2018/02/find-the-number-of-the-longest-continuously-rising-days-for-a-stock/)We all love a good, thorough SQL tutorial, right? This is a great walkthrough of bringing together several SQL features in a relatively advanced way. Dimitri Fontaine [Postgres Indexing: Index vs. Bitmap vs. Sequential Scans](https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/postgresql-indexing-index-scan-vs-bitmap-scan-vs-sequential-scan-basics/)A quick intro to _index scans_ in Postgres, highlighting what the optimizer does when a single query is processed. Hans-Jürgen Schönig [Exporting a Hierarchy in JSON with Recursive Queries](http://tapoueh.org/blog/2018/01/exporting-a-hierarchy-in-json-with-recursive-queries/)Putting JSON _into_ Postgres is pretty simple nowadays, but exporting it in elaborate ways can require a bit of work as in this example. Dimitri Fontaine [Demystifying Contributing to Postgres](https://fosdem.org/2018/schedule/event/de_mystifying_contributing_to_postgresql/)Want to contribute some code, a patch, even some documentation? Here’s a talk covering how to get involved. _(See links to the slides and video at the bottom of the page.)_ Lætitia Avrot [SelectStar: One Monitoring Solution to Cover All Your (Data)bases](https://selectstar.io/covers-all/?utm_source=CooperPress&utm_medium=Brief+Link&utm_campaign=Postgres+Weekly+Brief+Link+Feb7) SelectStar#sponsored [How The Citus Distributed Database Rebalances Your Data](https://www.citusdata.com/blog/2018/02/01/how-citus-database-rebalances-your-data/)Citus is an extension for scaling Postgres horizontally. citusdata [How Updating A Partition Key Would Work in Postgres 11](https://pgstef.github.io/2018/01/23/postgresql_11_preview_update_a_partition_key.html) Stefan Fercot [Easily Setup Postgres 10 and pgAdmin 4 with Docker](http://info.crunchydata.com/blog/easy-postgresql-10-and-pgadmin-4-setup-with-docker) Jonathan S.​ Katz [Creating Fast, Lightweight Testing Databases in Docker](https://medium.com/fintech-studios-engineering/creating-fast-lightweight-testing-databases-in-docker-2a8164d2f519) Kevin Barresi [Postgres Tip: Working With Dates Using the EXTRACT Function](https://karolgalanciak.com/blog/2018/01/30/postgresql-quick-tips-working-with-dates-using-extract-function/) Karol Galanciak [Linux Cloud Hosting Starting at 1GB of RAM for $5/mo](https://welcome.linode.com/postgres-weekly/?utm_source=cooperpress&utm_medium=sponsored&utm_campaign=postgres-weekly-brief) Linode Cloud Hosting#sponsored    

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