--- title: "Postgres 12 beta 3, 11.5, 10.10, and more released" publication: "Postgres Weekly" issue: 318 published_at: "2019-08-14" canonical_url: "https://postgresweekly.com/issues/318" --- The latest Postgres news, articles, tools, and projects. #318 — August 14, 2019 [Read on the Web](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/318) Postgres Weekly [![\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60/v1565784888/kpdyfke8ozgutzp29xox.jpg)](https://pgdash.io/blog/postgres-server-side-programming.html) [An Overview of Server-Side Programming in Postgres](https://pgdash.io/blog/postgres-server-side-programming.html) — If you just use Postgres as a data store that your app interacts with, you might not realize just how powerful it is as a platform of its own. User defined types, SQL and PL/pgSQL functions, stored procedures and integration with languages like C, Python and Perl extend Postgres’s functionality a long way. RapidLoop [PostgreSQL 11.5, 10.10, 9.6.15, 9.5.19, 9.4.24, and 12 Beta 3 Released](https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/1960/) — Why release one version of Postgres when you can release six? 😄 As is usual with these group releases, the motivation is fixing security issues and other bugs. PostgreSQL Global Development Group [![\](https://copm.s3.amazonaws.com/2b71492c.png)](https://2QPGConf.com) [2Q PGConf 2019 - CFP and Registration Now Open](https://2QPGConf.com) — Join us in Chicago to learn more about recent achievements & exciting future developments in PostgreSQL. You can also participate in hands-on training with experts covering: Performance Tuning, PostgreSQL Security and Multi-master Replication. 2ndQuadrant PostgreSQL Events sponsor [The State of PostgreSQL: A Community Survey](https://stateofpostgres.com/) — Echoing similar surveys in the JavaScript and CSS worlds, Timescale are doing a _Postgres_ community survey and plan to share the aggregated results and analysis publicly. (I just filled it out and it wasn’t invasive at all.) Timescale [How to Get the First or Last Value in a Group Using `GROUP BY`](https://hakibenita.com/sql-group-by-first-last-value) — A neat little trick using Postgres arrays. Haki Benita [Trivial Postgres Time Series Examples](https://www.cybertec-postgresql.com/en/postgresql-trivial-timeseries-examples/) — While extensions like [TimescaleDB](https://www.timescale.com/) can boost Postgres’s time series data functionality, you can do the basics with vanilla Postgres alone. Hans-Jürgen Schönig [Doubling the Sorting Speed of Network Types with Abbreviated Keys](https://brandur.org/sortsupport-inet) — While this won’t be of immediate use to many readers, this is so gorgeously _niche_ and detailed! It digs into under-the-hood ways to improve Postgres’s performance when sorting network addresses stored using Postgres’s `inet`/`cidr`types. Brandur Leach [Add Speed and Scale to PostgreSQL](https://www.gridgain.com/resources/papers/postgresql-speed-and-scale-options-in-memory-computing?adsource=postgresweekly) — Learn how an in-memory computing platform adds speed and scale to Postgres to support your most data-intensive applications. GridGain Systems sponsor [Automatically Updating Materialized Views](http://pgsqlpgpool.blogspot.com/2019/08/automatically-updating-materialized.html) Tatsuo Ishii [Slonik: A Postgres Client with Strict Types, Detailed Logging and Assertions](https://github.com/gajus/slonik) — Built on top of Node.js’s `pg` library, Slonik provides some interesting niceties and convenience methods to the Postgres CLI experience. Gajus Kuizinas [PostGIS 3.0.0alpha4, 2.5.3, 2.4.8, and 2.3.10 Released](http://postgis.net/2019/08/11/postgis-patches/) PostGIS Developers [Adaptive Query Optimization for Postgres](https://github.com/postgrespro/aqo) — A bit of fiddling around is required to get this patch and extension working with Postgres, but once you do, it’s an interesting experiment in improving the query optimizer. For advanced users only. Postgres Professional supported by [![pgexperts\](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/v1565604210/w0uaf0dddjz5ectyffpn.png)](https://pgexperts.com/) 💡 Tip of the Week `psql`'s 'expanded' formatting mode After a recent run of quite advanced tips, a (very) simple one for a change! When I was writing [last week's](https://postgresweekly.com/issues/317) tip about using `pgstattuple` to look at dead rows, I was confronted by some output that was impractical to screenshot: ![](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60/eyqttewffm4vopmvdpvq.jpg) Eugh! Luckily, `psql` supports a different type of output called 'expanded table formatting mode'. Enable it by running `psql` with a `-x` or `--expanded` option _or_ type `\x` to toggle it on and off while `psql` is already running. ![](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpress/image/upload/w_1280,e_sharpen:60/plddshx3ufnaqxsoqxby.jpg) That's better for taking a screenshot or to copy and paste into a README or email. This weeks tip of the week is sponsored by [pgexperts](https://pgexperts.com/). PGX provides complete PostgreSQL support, from emergency services through daily operational support, to strategic planning. We’re here for your data ops. 🗓 Upcoming Postgres Events - [PGDay Austria 2019](https://pgday.at/en/) (September 6 in Wiener Neustadt, Austria) - [PostgreSQL Conference Asia 2019](http://2019.pgconf.asia/) (September 8-11 in Bali, Indonesia) - [PostgresOpen 2019](https://2019.postgresopen.org/) (September 11-13, in Orlando, Florida) — Two days packed with tutorials and presentations about PostgreSQL and related tech. - [PostgresConf Silicon Valley 2019](https://postgresconf.org/conferences/SV2019) (September 18-20 in San Jose) — the schedule (including training) has now been published. - [PostgresConf South Africa 2019](https://postgresconf.org/conferences/SouthAfrica2019) (October 8-9 in Johannesburg) — An opportunity for the database administration and developer community who use Postgres to get to know each other. - [PostgreSQL Conference Europe 2019](https://2019.pgconf.eu/) (October 15-18 in Milan, Italy) Curated by [Cooperpress](https://cooperpress.com/), [Peter Cooper](https://twitter.com/peterc), and [Craig Kerstiens](https://twitter.com/craigkerstiens). 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