postgresql/src/backend/nodes
Tom Lane 2d1d96b1ce Teach the system how to use hashing for UNION. (INTERSECT/EXCEPT will follow,
but seem like a separate patch since most of the remaining work is on the
executor side.)  I took the opportunity to push selection of the grouping
operators for set operations into the parser where it belongs.  Otherwise this
is just a small exercise in making prepunion.c consider both alternatives.

As with the recent DISTINCT patch, this means we can UNION on datatypes that
can hash but not sort, and it means that UNION without ORDER BY is no longer
certain to produce sorted output.
2008-08-07 01:11:52 +00:00
..
bitmapset.c Update copyrights in source tree to 2008. 2008-01-01 19:46:01 +00:00
copyfuncs.c Teach the system how to use hashing for UNION. (INTERSECT/EXCEPT will follow, 2008-08-07 01:11:52 +00:00
equalfuncs.c Teach the system how to use hashing for UNION. (INTERSECT/EXCEPT will follow, 2008-08-07 01:11:52 +00:00
list.c Update copyrights in source tree to 2008. 2008-01-01 19:46:01 +00:00
Makefile Refactor backend makefiles to remove lots of duplicate code 2008-02-19 10:30:09 +00:00
makefuncs.c Update copyrights in source tree to 2008. 2008-01-01 19:46:01 +00:00
nodeFuncs.c Update copyrights in source tree to 2008. 2008-01-01 19:46:01 +00:00
nodes.c Update copyrights in source tree to 2008. 2008-01-01 19:46:01 +00:00
outfuncs.c Teach the system how to use hashing for UNION. (INTERSECT/EXCEPT will follow, 2008-08-07 01:11:52 +00:00
params.c Update copyrights in source tree to 2008. 2008-01-01 19:46:01 +00:00
print.c Improve our #include situation by moving pointer types away from the 2008-06-19 00:46:06 +00:00
read.c Update copyrights in source tree to 2008. 2008-01-01 19:46:01 +00:00
readfuncs.c Teach the system how to use hashing for UNION. (INTERSECT/EXCEPT will follow, 2008-08-07 01:11:52 +00:00
README Make source code READMEs more consistent. Add CVS tags to all README files. 2008-03-20 17:55:15 +00:00
tidbitmap.c Replace "amgetmulti" AM functions with "amgetbitmap", in which the whole 2008-04-10 22:25:26 +00:00
value.c Update copyrights in source tree to 2008. 2008-01-01 19:46:01 +00:00

$PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/nodes/README,v 1.3 2008/03/20 17:55:14 momjian Exp $

Node Structures
===============

Andrew Yu (11/94)

Introduction
------------

The current node structures are plain old C structures. "Inheritance" is
achieved by convention. No additional functions will be generated. Functions
that manipulate node structures reside in this directory.


FILES IN THIS DIRECTORY

    Node manipulation functions:
	copyfuncs.c	- copying a node
	equalfuncs.c	- comparing a node
	outfuncs.c	- convert a node to ascii representation
	readfuncs.c	- convert ascii representation back to a node
	makefuncs.c	- creator functions for primitive nodes

    Node definitions:
	nodes.h		- define node tags (NodeTag)
	pg_list.h	- generic list 
	primnodes.h	- primitive nodes
	parsenodes.h	- parse tree nodes
	plannodes.h	- plan tree nodes
	relation.h	- inner plan tree nodes
	execnodes.h	- executor nodes
	memnodes.h	- memory nodes


Steps to Add a Node
-------------------

Suppose you wana define a node Foo:

1. add a tag (T_Foo) to the enum NodeTag in nodes.h (You may have to
   recompile the whole tree after doing this.)
2. add the structure definition to the appropriate ???nodes.h file. If you
   intend to inherit from, say a Plan node, put Plan as the first field of
   you definition.
3. if you intend to use copyObject, equal, nodeToString or stringToNode,
   add an appropriate function to copyfuncs.c, equalfuncs.c, outfuncs.c
   and readfuncs.c accordingly. (Except for frequently used nodes, don't
   bother writing a creator function in makefuncs.c)


Historical Note
---------------

Prior to the current simple C structure definitions, the Node structures 
uses a pseudo-inheritance system which automatically generates creator and
accessor functions. Since every node inherits from LispValue, the whole thing
is a mess. Here's a little anecdote:

    LispValue definition -- class used to support lisp structures
    in C.  This is here because we did not want to totally rewrite
    planner and executor code which depended on lisp structures when
    we ported postgres V1 from lisp to C. -cim 4/23/90