Re: binary representation of datatypes

>>>
>> You mean that when results are asked in textual representation (the default), data is sent on network directly as text?
> 
> yes.
> 
> You should know that text/binary conversions rarely play a significant
> role in terms of performance.  There are exceptions...large bytea
> columns, or enormous sets of integers.  This is coming from a guy that
> co-wrote a library that allows you to pull data directly in binary.
> 
> merlin
> 

If I remember correctly, composites and composite arrays also show worth while 
performance gains.  libpq array and composite handling is what initially spawned 
the libpqtypes project (which required providing type handling for every basic 
type like int and text).  So, different types were implemented for different 
reasons, it was not all performance.  The ultimate functionality we were looking 
for was multiple result sets, which composite arrays solve nicely.

-- 
Andrew Chernow
eSilo, LLC
every bit counts
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