A Box of DB

Notes and small tools for database systems work: PostgreSQL plans, optimizer behavior, execution paths, and reproducible tests.

Records

Articles and tools, listed as records rather than filler.

tool
PG Catalog Atlas

Explore PostgreSQL 14–18 system catalogs, columns, and documented references in a draggable read-only graph.

2026-09-01
article
PostgreSQL Should Be the Default SQL Parser

libpg_query makes PostgreSQL parsing practical, but a system still needs its own AST boundary.

2026-08-25
tool
PostgreSQL Plan Reader

Paste JSON EXPLAIN output and inspect natural-language flow plus plan_most_expensive.

2026-08-24
article
DuckDB vs. C++: PMR as a Memory Model

PMR is about allocation locality and lifetime grouping, not single-object ownership.

2026-08-17
article
DuckDB vs. C++: Templates for Primitives

Templates help DuckDB write one algorithm shape across many physical types.

2026-08-16
article
DuckDB vs. C++: Runtime Model

DuckDB uses ownership, RAII, exceptions, and inheritance where PostgreSQL uses MemoryContext, longjmp, and NodeTag.

2026-08-15
article
DuckDB vs. C++: Why C++17

C++11 fails at the project boundary, and common DuckDB headers already depend on C++17 features.

2026-08-14
article
Making PostgreSQL Plans Readable

Normalize a plan into relational tables, then read estimates, expensive nodes, and data flow through views.

2026-08-14