Chapter 1About the Firebird SQL Language Reference: for Firebird 2.5

This Firebird SQL Language Reference is the first comprehensive manual to cover all aspects of the query language used by developers to communicate, through their applications, with the Firebird relational database management system. It has a long history.

1.1Subject Matter

The subject matter of this volume is wholly Firebird’s implementation of the SQL relational database language. Firebird conforms closely with international standards for SQL, from data type support, data storage structures, referential integrity mechanisms, to data manipulation capabilities and access privileges. Firebird also implements a robust procedural language — procedural SQL (PSQL) — for stored procedures, triggers and dynamically-executable code blocks. These are the areas addressed in this volume.