Debugging Your PL/pgSQL Code

PL/pgSQL is a very robust development language that allows you to write complex business logic. The downside is: as the complexity of your functions grows, how do you debug them? We have all used RAISE statements to print out the progress of our functions, but they can quickly overwhelm your logs and become useless.

In this talk, we will:
- Walk through the setup of 2 key PostgreSQL extensions, the PL/pgSQL Debugger and the PL Profiler
- Demonstrate how the PL Profiler can identify problem areas in your functions
- Setting breakpoints in functions and triggers
- Stepping through PL/pgSQL functions
- Discuss the performance impact of running the extensions on production environments

PL/pgSQL is a very robust development language that allows you to write complex business logic. The downside is: as the complexity of your functions grows, how do you debug them? We have all used RAISE statements to print out the progress of our functions, but they can quickly overwhelm your logs and become useless.

In this talk, we will:
- Walk through the setup of 2 key PostgreSQL extensions, the PL/pgSQL Debugger and the PL Profiler
- Demonstrate how the PL Profiler can identify problem areas in your functions
- Setting breakpoints in functions and triggers
- Stepping through PL/pgSQL functions
- Discuss the performance impact of running the extensions on production environments