Chapter 1About the Firebird 4.0 Language Reference

This Language Reference describes the SQL language supported by Firebird 4.0.

This Firebird 4.0 Language Reference is the third 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.

1.1Subject

The subject 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, stored functions, triggers, and dynamically-executable code blocks. These are the areas addressed in this volume.

This document does not cover configuration of Firebird, Firebird command-line tools, nor its programming APIs.