For the next TorontoPUG (to be held on July 28th, 2008), we will be moving to an office area, where we want to hold a few quick (15-20 min) presentations on a few different topics.

This is an open call to the community asking if anyone would be interested in presenting a topic on PostgreSQL. Some topics our members would be interested in learning about include (but feel free to suggest your own topic):

• A brief overview of replication options
• PostGIS
• An overview of tweaking PostgreSQL databases
• Differences and gotchas moving from MySQL to PostgreSQL

If you are interested in presenting, please send an email to torontopug.july2008@hardcircle.net and/or to our mailing list.

Event: TorontoPUG meeting
Date: June 23rd, 2008, 7:30 PM
Location: The Rhino (www.therhino.ca), 1249 Queen St. West, Toronto
RSVP: Send a brief message to Ian: torontopug.june2008@hardcircle.net

I'm pleased to announce the first meeting of the Toronto area PostgreSQL User Group, TorontoPUG!

Our first meeting will be on June 23rd, at 7:30 PM, at the Rhino. This will be an opportunity to meet others using PostgreSQL in the area, to learn how others are using PostgreSQL in different ways, or to learn basics about the PostgreSQL project. Please RSVP by sending a quick message to torontopug.june2008@hardcircle.net so we can ensure there is enough space.

To get updates about future events, meet people between events, and suggest ideas for future events, please join our mailing list, accessible here: http://archives.postgresql.org/torontopug/.

Topic: The Relational Model
Who: Jeff Davis
Date: 6/19/08, 7pm
Where: FreeGeek, 1731 SE 10th Ave, Portland, OR

Come to our next PostgreSQL Users Group meeting where Jeff Davis will
discuss the finer points of the Relational Model, otherwise known as
the model upon which all major SQL databases systems like Oracle,
MySQL and PostgreSQL are based.

He's fresh off giving a talk about this at PgCon, where it was very
well received!

Here's his abstract from that talk:

"This talk focuses on two common data management tasks, and how the
relational model can help. First, how to answer complex questions
about your data, and provide an answer that can be understood by
non-IT people unambiguously. Second, how to effectively extract
meaning from disorganized (or under-documented) data sets for
effective data migration or reporting.

The relational model, on which all SQL DBMSs are based, is founded on
both logic and sets. Relational operators like JOIN and UNION have a
direct logical meaning, and you can use those operators to answer
complex questions from your data unambiguously. Not only can you
provide unambiguous answers, but you can translate SQL queries into
the language of logic, which can be understood by people outside of
IT.

Equally important is the utility of logic working backwards to help
find meaning in disorganized (or perhaps undocumented) data sets.
Nearly every inherited data set is less than perfectly documented, and
often inconsistent. Changes to (or replacement of) the application
require this data to be migrated. By iteratively making assertions and
then testing them using the rules of logic and the convenience of
sets, you can find exceptions and contradictions that help you refine
the meaning of data, and possibly correct inconsistencies."

Topic: PostgreSQL for Pythoneers
Speaker: Jason Kirtland
Date: Thursday, 5/15/08
Location: FreeGeek, 1731 SE 10th Ave

Come join us for an evening of Pythoneering with Jason Kirtland, a key
force behind the Portland Python Interest Group -
http://wiki.python.org/moin/PortlandPythonUserGroup. They are having
Lightning Talks tomorrow night at Cubespace.

Jason hasn't provided too many details at this point, but I imagine it
will be a tour of a popular Python ORM and a discussion of using it
with PostgreSQL.

"A tour of SQLAlchemy [1], an open source database toolkit and object relational mapper in Python. The tour will be SQL heavy and Python-light, and I'm planning on focusing on the object relational mapping part of the tool.

If you have a schema that you'd like to see mapped, send it my way and I'll do my best to work it in to the presentation.

[1] http://www.sqlalchemy.org/"

Also, Jason has offered to map RT - a continuation of our refactored schema meeting for RT.

Refreshments afterward at the Lucky Lab!