PostgreSQL 16 What's New - Part 1

PostgreSQL 16 introduces significant enhancements aimed at improving performance and expanding developer capabilities, including support for parallel hash right joins, which boost efficiency in handling large datasets. The release also incorporates SQL/JSON standard functions, allowing seamless creation and manipulation of JSON objects, while improving the incremental sort feature for more efficient data aggregation and sorting operations, including DISTINCT/Unique sort. Additionally, the new version allows for custom collation rules, enabling more nuanced sorting methods beyond conventional alphabetical order. Developer-friendly functions such as array_shuffle and array_sample have been introduced for randomizing and sampling array elements, respectively, while any_value offers a flexible alternative to aggregate functions by providing a single, arbitrary value from a group. These features collectively enhance PostgreSQL's functionality, offering more performance, flexibility, and ease of use for developers.