Building Oracle XML Applications

£25.56

Steve Muench; ISBN: 1-56592-691-9

Oracle Corporation, committed to supporting XML in a wide range of products, has XML-enabled its entire Oracle Internet platform--the Oracle8i database, Oracle interMedia, Oracle Application Server, and a variety of other products.

Building Oracle XML Applications, by Steve Muench, Oracle's lead "XML evangelist" and a key Oracle XML developer, gives Java and PL/SQL developers a rich and detailed look at the many tools Oracle has provided to support XML development, such as the Oracle XML Parser, the Oracle XML SQL Utility, and the XSQL Servlet.

The company describes Oracle8i as "the first XML enabled database." This book shows how to combine the power of XML and XSLT with the speed, functionality, and reliability of the Oracle database to build flexible applications. The author delivers nearly 800 pages of entertaining text, helpful and time-saving hints, and extensive examples that developers can put to use immediately to build custom XML applications.

Products covered include:

• XSQL pages and the XSQL servlet: declarative templates and an extensive framework to assemble any kind of static or dynamic XML information and transform it for delivery using XSLT stylesheets.
• JDeveloper: a complete integrated development environment for Java XML developers, including editing, syntax checking, debugging, and more.
• XSLT Processor: a product that enables XML information to be presented and delivered in many different ways, using any web-based format, both inside and outside the database.
• XML SQL utility: an Oracle utility that works with the results of SQL statements as XML documents and uses XML documents to insert, update, and delete information from database tables, views, and object views.
• XML Parser: a product that lets Java, PL/SQL, C, and C++ developers process and construct XML.
• interMedia: a product whose Text option lets developers search XML documents from SQL and leverage the XML document structure for razor-sharp search precision.
• Advanced Queuing: an Oracle queuing mechanism that lets both PL/SQL and Java programs enqueue and and dequeue XML messages.
• PLSXML utilities: Oracle PL/SQL utilities that let developers using any version of Oracle produce XML from SQL statements.

The accompanying CD-ROM contains JDeveloper 3.1, an integrated development environment for Java developers.

Learning Oracle PL/SQL

£22.80

Bill Pribyl and Steven Feuerstein; ISBN: 0-596-00180-0

PL/SQL, Oracle's programming language for stored procedures, delivers a world of possibilities for your database programs. PL/SQL supplements the standard relational database language, SQL, with a wide range of procedural features, including loops, IF-THEN statements, advanced data structures, and rich transactional control--all closely integrated with the Oracle database server.

Knowing where to start with Oracle's procedural language is not always obvious to a newcomer, especially considering the language's feature set and the sheer size of the official documentation (not to mention Oracle's ever-increasing number of pre-built PL/SQL programs). But Learning Oracle PL/SQL offers the signposts and guidance you need to come up to speed on the language, delivered in a manageable number of pages while covering all the essentials.

Topics include:

• PL/SQL--what is it, and why use it? Why use PL/SQL instead of Java?
• Syntax and examples of all core language constructs
• Creating, using, and reusing stored procedures, functions, and packages
• Building web-based applications using PL/SQL features available "out of the box" (such as PL/SQL Server Pages)
• Securing PL/SQL programs against attack
• Benefits of third-party developer tools and integrated development environments
• Connecting PL/SQL to email, Java, and the Internet

Meticulously crafted with all-new examples downloadable from examples.oreilly.com/learnoracle, the book addresses language features available in all versions of Oracle, from Oracle7 to Oracle8i to Oracle9i.

Learning Oracle PL/SQL was written by PL/SQL experts Bill Pribyl and Steven Feuerstein, whose easy-to-read style and attention to detail has made other O'Reilly books (such as the bestselling Oracle PL/SQL Programming) very popular among Oracle developers worldwide. Learning Oracle PL/SQL is meant for a wide range of target audiences, including both beginning programmers and those already experienced with other programming languages. Whether you are a new developer, a crossover programmer from another database system, or a new database administrator who needs to learn PL/SQL, this book will get you well on your way. It is the perfect introduction to Oracle PL/SQL Programming, also by Pribyl and Feuerstein.

Mastering Oracle SQL

£19.96

Sanjay Mishra and Alan Beaulieu; ISBN: 0-596-00129-0

If you write programs to run against an Oracle database, you spend a lot of time and mental energy writing queries to return the data your programs need. Knowledge of SQL, and particularly of Oracle's implementation of SQL, is the key to writing good queries in a timely manner. In this book, the authors share their knowledge of Oracle SQL, and show you many creative techniques that you can use to advantage in your own applications.

This book shows you how to:

• Leverage Oracle's vast library of built-in SQL functions
• Query time-based data, and write joins involving date and time ranges
• Use Oracle SQL's hierarchical query features to deal with data best represented in a tree format
• Use DECODE and CASE to implement conditional logic in your queries
• Use Oracle's new, analytic SQL features to write ranking queries, lag and lead queries, windowing queries, and more
• Join data from two or more tables using the newly supported SQL92 join syntax

In addition, you'll see how SQL can best be integrated with PL/SQL. You'll also learn various best practices to help you write SQL queries that perform efficiently.

Precious few books on the market today go beyond discussing syntax and the barest rudiments of using Oracle SQL. This book changes that, showing you how to creatively leverage the full power of SQL to write queries in an Oracle environment.

Optimizing Oracle Performance

£19.96

Cary Millsap and Jeff Holt; ISBN: 0-596-00527-X

Oracle system performance inefficiencies often go undetected for months or even years--even under intense scrutiny--because traditional Oracle performance analysis methods and tools are fundamentally flawed. They're unreliable and inefficient.

Oracle DBAs and developers are all too familiar with the outlay of time and resources, blown budgets, missed deadlines, and marginally effective performance fiddling that is commonplace with traditional methods of Oracle performance tuning. In this crucial book, Cary Millsap, former VP of Oracle's System Performance Group, clearly and concisely explains how to use Oracle's response time statistics to diagnose and repair performance problems. Cary also shows how "queueing theory" can be applied to response time statistics to predict the impact of upgrades and other system changes.

Optimizing Oracle Performance eliminates the time-consuming, trial-and-error guesswork inherent in most conventional approaches to tuning. You can determine exactly where a system's performance problem is, and with equal importance, where it is not, in just a few minutes--even if the problem is several years old.

Optimizing Oracle Performance cuts a path through the complexity of current tuning methods, and streamlines an approach that focuses on optimization techniques that any DBA can use quickly and successfully to make noticeable--even dramatic--improvements.

For example, the one thing database users care most about is response time. Naturally, DBAs focus much of their time and effort towards improving response time. But it is entirely too easy to spend hundreds of hours to improve important system metrics such as hit ratios, average latencies, and wait times, only to find users are unable to perceive the difference. And an expensive hardware upgrade may not help either.

It doesn't have to be that way. Technological advances have added impact, efficiency, measurability, predictive capacity, reliability, speed, and practicality to the science of Oracle performance optimization. Optimizing Oracle Performance shows you how to slash the frustration and expense associated with unraveling the true root cause of any type of performance problem, and reliably predict future performance.

The price of this essential book will be paid back in hours saved the first time its methods are used.

Oracle Application Server 10g Essentials

£19.96

Robert Stackowiak,Donald Bales and Rick Greenwald; ISBN: 0-596-00621-7

The new Oracle Application Server offers a wide range of functionality, including Java runtime and development tools, portal development tools, business intelligence, single sign-on identify management, and much more. It's so powerful and complex, in fact, that many people who use the product (or are considering using it) are familiar with only a portion of the entire range of its capabilities. The choices can be overwhelming. Few people grasp how the larger issues--such as the interplay between components or the various architectural choices in the product--play out in the Oracle Application Server.

This new guide provides the perfect introduction to the Oracle Application Server for users of any level. Regardless of which of the server's capabilities you use, you'll benefit from this tightly focused, all-in-one technical overview. It's written for anyone who is concerned with using and managing web servers, doing Java development and deployment, using Oracle's own tools--like Forms and Reports, using or developing for Oracle Portal, or those who use and administer business intelligence, mobile or integration software.

Divided into three concise sections, the book covers server basics, core components, and server functionality. The book leads with the history of Oracle Application Server, its architecture, management, standards, and third-party support for languages and tools such as Java, Perl, and HTTP. The next section covers Oracle's web server, containers for Java web caching, and the server's security features. And finally, the book discusses HTML development, Java development, and Oracle development. Although the book refers mainly to Oracle Application Server 10g, the authors also describe features in earlier product releases where necessary, particularly Oracle9i Application Server.

More comprehensible than a large reference and more detailed than a primer, the book provides a foundation for understanding and using Oracle Application Server effectively and efficiently. Readers concentrate on the most important issues and components of the server, focusing primarily on principles rather than syntax. Designed to be the ideal first OracleAS book, Oracle Application Server 10g Essentials offers Oracle application developers and administrators everything they need to know about this powerful server.

Oracle Built-in Packages

£28.40

Steven Feuerstein,Charles Dye and John Beresniewicz; ISBN: 1-56592-375-8

Oracle is the most popular database management system in use today, and PL/SQL plays a pivotal role in current and projected Oracle products and applications. PL/SQL is a programming language providing procedural extensions to the SQL relational database language and to an ever-growing number of oracle development tools. originally a rather limited tool, PL/SQL became with Oracle7 a mature and effective language for developers. now, with the introduction of Oracle8, PL/SQL has taken the next step towards becoming a fully realized programming language providing sophisticated object-oriented capabilities. Steven Feuerstein's Oracle PL/SQL Programming is a comprehensive guide to building applications with PL/SQL. That book has become the bible for PL/SQL developers who have raved about its completeness, readability, and practicality.

Built-in packages are collections of PL/SQL objects built by Oracle Corporation and stored directly in the Oracle database. The functionality of these packages is available from any programming environment that can call PL/SQL stored procedures, including Visual Basic, Oracle Developer/2000, Oracle Application Server (for web-based development), and, of course, the Oracle database itself. Built-in packages extend the capabilities and power of PL/SQL in many significant ways. for example:

• DBMS_SQL executes dynamically constructed SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks of code.
• DBMS_PIPE communicates between different Oracle sessions through a pipe in the RDBMS shared memory.
• DBMS_JOB submits and manages regularly scheduled jobs for execution inside the database.
• DBMS_LOB accesses and manipulates Oracle8's large objects (LOBs) from within PL/SQL programs.

The first edition of Oracle PL/SQL Programming contained a chapter on Oracle's built-in packages. but there is much more to say about the basic PL/SQL packages than Feuerstein could fit in his first book. In addition, now that Oracle8 has been released, there are many new Oracle8 built-in packages not described in the PL/SQL book. There are also packages extensions for specific oracle environments such as distributed database. hence this book.

Oracle Built-in Packages pulls together information about how to use the calling interface (API) to Oracle's Built-in Packages, and provides extensive examples on using the built-in packages effectively.

The windows diskette included with the book contains the companion guide, an online tool developed by RevealNet, Inc., that provides point-and-click access to the many files of source code and online documentation developed by the authors.

Oracle Data Dictionary Pocket Reference

£5.56

David C. Kreines; ISBN: 0-596-00517-2

If you work with Oracle, then you don't need to be told that the data dictionary is large and complex, and grows larger with each new Oracle release. It's one of the basic elements of the Oracle database you interact with regularly, but the sheer number of tables and views makes it difficult to remember which view you need, much less the name of the specific column. Want to make it simpler? The Oracle Data Dictionary Pocket Reference puts all the information you need right at your fingertips. Its handy and compact format lets you locate the table and view you need effortlessly without stopping to interrupt your work

Oracle Data Dictionary Pocket Reference gives DBAs and developers at any level quick and easy access to the data dictionary in Oracle's latest database, Oracle9i. This pocket-sized book provides a complete list of the most commonly used tables and views in the Oracle9i data dictionary, intelligently arranged for quick reference. It also includes column names and descriptions for each of the tables and views, as well as helpful tips, warnings, and usage examples.

O'Reilly's Pocket References have become a favorite among developers and database administrators everywhere. By providing a wealth of important details in a concise, well-organized format, these handy books deliver just what you need to complete the task at hand. When you've reached a sticking point in your work and want to check your facts quickly, the Oracle Data Dictionary Pocket Reference is the book to have close by.

Oracle Database Administration: The Essential Reference

£22.80

David C. Kreines and Brian Laskey; ISBN: 1-56592-516-5

Oracle database administration requires a vast amount of information and an ability to perform a myriad of tasks--from installation to tuning to network troubleshooting to overall daily administration. Oracle provides many tools for performing these tasks; the trick is knowing what tool is right for the job, what commands you need to issue (and when), and what parameters and privileges you need to set. And, as every DBA knows, you need to know how do all this under pressure, while you face crisis after crisis.

This book provides a concise reference to the enormous store of information an Oracle DBA needs every day (as well as what's needed only when disaster strikes). It's crammed full of quick-reference tables, task lists, and other summary material that both novice and expert DBAs will use time and time again. It covers the commands and operations new to Oracle8, but also provides Oracle7 information for sites still running earlier versions.

Oracle Database Administration provides two types of material:

• DBA tasks--chapters summarizing how to perform critical DBA functions: installation, performance tuning, preventing data loss, networking, security and monitoring, auditing, query optimization, and the use of various Oracle tools and utilities
• DBA reference--chapters providing a quick reference to the Oracle instance and database, the initialization (INIT.ORA) parameters, the SQL statements commonly used by DBAs, the data dictionary tables, the system privileges and roles, and the SQL*Plus, Export, Import, and SQL*Loader syntax

The book also includes a resource summary with references to additional books, Web sites, and other online and offline resources of special use to Oracle DBAs.

Oracle Database Administration is the single essential reference you'll turn to again and again. If you must choose only one book to use at the office, keep at home, or carry to a site you're troubleshooting, this will be that book.

Oracle Design

£28.40

Ian Stevenson and Dave Ensor; ISBN: 1-56592-268-9

Oracle Design looks thoroughly at the field of Oracle relational database design. The design of both databases and applications is an often neglected area of Oracle, but one that has an enormous impact on the ultimate power and performance of a system. If the initial design is poor, then the most powerful hardware, the most sophisticated software tools, and the most highly tuned data and programs won't make your system run smoothly and efficiently. Indeed, applications that have been designed poorly will never be able to perform well, regardless of the tuning and retrofitting performed later on.

There are three main areas of Oracle design:

• The design of the specific database objects (e.g., tables, views, indexes, stored functions) that will be implemented in a database.
• The design of the screens, reports, and programs that will maintain the data and allow inquiries against it.
• Under certain circumstances, the design must also be concerned with the specific environment or technology (e.g., the network topology, the hardware configuration, and the use of a client/server, parallel processing, or distributed database architecture).

This book examines all aspects of database and code design. Part I examines the project life cycle and where design fits in that cycle; it shows a sample case study, identifies the areas of Oracle7 that are of particular interest to designers, takes a look ahead at Oracle8, and provides an in-depth discussion of data modeling (e.g., entities, relationships, attributes, entity models, function hierarchies). Part II describes design issues for the database itself -- denormalization, data types, keys, indexes, temporal data, import/export, backup, recovery, security, and more. Part III explores design issues for specific architectures and environments -- client/server, distributed database, data warehouses, and parallel processing. Part IV describes design issues for the code that accesses the database -- metrics and prototypes, locking, the toolset, design of screens, reports, batch programs, etc. Part V contains summary appendixes.

Oracle Essentials, 3rd Edition:

£22.80

Rick Greenwald,Robert Stackowiak and Jonathan Stern; ISBN: 0-596-00585-7

An enormous system comprising myriad technologies, options, and releases, Oracle's complexities have spawned numerous areas of specialization. For each area of specialization there are equally specialized how-to books and manuals. O'Reilly's Oracle Essentials claims a unique place among these books. Rather than focusing on one area, the book explains the foundational concepts of the Oracle technology and the core technical and business aspects of using it.

The new edition of this classic book, Oracle Essentials, 3rd Edition: Oracle Database 10g, distills a vast amount of knowledge into an easy-to-read volume covering every aspect of the Oracle database. Readers of all levels will learn about Oracle's features and technologies, including the product line, architecture, data structures, networking, concurrency, tuning, and much more.

Featuring focused text, abundant illustrations, and helpful hints, the new edition offers a valuable overview of Oracle's Database 10g--the industry's first database to support grid computing. Recent releases such as Oracle 9i and 8i are also covered. The book contains chapters on:

• Oracle products, options, and overall architecture for Oracle 10g and prior recent releases
• Installing and running Oracle: how to configure, start up, and shut down the database, and various networking issues
• Oracle data structures, datatypes, and ways of extending datatypes, with an introduction to Oracle objects (e.g., tables, views, indexes)
• Managing Oracle: security, the Oracle Enterprise Manager, fragmentation and reorganization, and backup and recovery
• Oracle performance: characteristics of disk, memory, and CPU tuning
• Multi-user concurrency, online transaction processing (OLTP), and high availability
• Hardware architectures (e.g., SMP, MPP, NUMA) and their impact on Oracle
• Data warehousing and distributed databases
• Network deployment: using Oracle as an Internet computing platform and for grid computing
• What's new in Oracle 10g: a summary of the database changes described in the book

Oracle Essentials, 3rd Edition: Oracle Database 10g was written for anyone whose job involves managing or building systems using Oracle DBMS technology or working with staff that uses Oracle technology. This book is the perfect all-in-one source for understanding the complexities and capabilities of Oracle.

Oracle Essentials: Oracle9i, Oracle8i & Oracle8

£19.96

Rick Greenwald,Robert Stackowiak and Jonathan Stern; ISBN: 0-596-00179-7

The second edition of O'Reilly's bestselling Oracle Essentials has been updated to include the latest Oracle release, Oracle9i.

Oracle Essentials distills an enormous amount of information about Oracle's myriad technologies and releases into a compact, easy-to-read volume filled with focused text, illustrations, and helpful hints. Oracle9i promises to be an even more significant upgrade than Oracle8i, offering such major features as Real Application Clusters, flashback queries, Oracle personalization, clickstream intelligence, and Oracle Database Cache and Web Cache; it also promises significant improvements in Oracle's business intelligence, XML integration, high availability, and management capabilities. The book includes overviews of these features, as well as the new Oracle9I Application Server (Oracle9iAS) and Oracle9i Portal.

The book contains chapters on:

• Oracle products, options, and overall architecture for Oracle9i and other recent releases
• Installing and running Oracle: creating databases, configuring Net8 (known as Oracle Net in Oracle9i), starting up and shutting down Oracle
• Oracle data structures, datatypes, and ways of extending datatypes
• Managing Oracle: security, the Oracle Enterprise Manager, fragmentation and reorganization, and backup and recovery
• Oracle networking, monitoring, and tuning
• Multi-user concurrency, online transaction processing (OLTP), and high availability
• Hardware architectures (e.g., SMP, MPP, NUMA) and their impact on Oracle
• Data warehousing and distributed databases
• Oracle9i, Oracle8i, and the Web, including the latest Java, web, and XML technologies, interMedia, Oracle9i Application Server, and Oracle9i Portal

For new Oracle users, DBAs, developers, and managers, Oracle Essentials is an all-in-one introduction to the full range of Oracle features and technologies, including the just-released Oracle9i features. But even if you already have a library full of Oracle documentation, this compact book is the one you'll turn to, again and again, as your one-stop, truly essential reference.

Oracle Initialization Parameters Pocket Reference

£5.56

David C. Kreines; ISBN: 0-596-00770-1

Oracle designed its database products to be flexible and configurable so they would operate on a variety of hardware platforms, and they succeeded--Oracle software runs on more than seventy computer platforms, from mainframes to PC networks to handheld PDAs. The secret to this flexibility lies in the software's initialization parameters, whose numerous settings can be configured for top performance in countless environments. On the downside, however, improper settings can slow a system down; even grind it to a halt. And with so many parameters--which change from version to version of Oracle software--it's challenging for Oracle administrators to keep in mind the characteristics and optimal settings for each parameter.

The Oracle Initialization Parameters Pocket Reference provides the crucial information you need to make key adjustments to your Oracle database. This concise guide is a mix of invaluable performance tips and a quick reference to Oracle's initialization parameters. The book describes each initialization parameter, indicates what category it's in--from auditing to multi-threaded server MTS--and whether it can be modified dynamically via the ALTER SESSION or ALTER SYSTEM command.

In addition to the details about parameter characteristics and settings, you'll find performance tips, such as how the various parameters interact, and what the most advantageous settings are for different configurations. No other reference focuses exclusively on these initialization parameters--an absolute must for anyone working with an Oracle database.

Presented in a handy, easy-to-use format, the Oracle Initialization Parameters Pocket Reference is a welcome alternative for anyone who's struggled to memorize the best configuration settings or gone back and forth to online resources, trying to figure out what works. O'Reilly's Pocket References put the information you need close at hand where you need it most. This guide will keep your Oracle databases operating at peak performance.

Oracle Net8 Configuration and Troubleshooting

£22.80

Hugo Toledo and Jonathan Gennick; ISBN: 1-56592-753-2

Net8 is the fundamental Oracle technology that allows Oracle services and clients to communicate with each other over a network. Net8 is most often used to connect client software to Oracle database servers. It may also be used to connect database servers to one another, allowing communication between distributed databases.

This practical guide provides the information that readers, especially database administrators, need to know in order to install configure, tune, and troubleshoot Net8. It discusses how Oracle's network architecture, products, and name resolution methods work, and it provides the details of client and server configuration using a variety of Oracle protocols and networking products, including:

• The Oracle Internet Directory (OID), Oracle's implementation of the standard Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP). This directory can be used to maintain a central repository of net service names that can be referenced by all clients.
• Oracle Names, a networking component used mainly in earlier versions of Oracle, that allows net service names to be defined centrally.
• Multi-Threaded Server (MTS), an environment in which the client connections share access to a pool of shared server processes.
• Oracle Connection Manager, a Net8 component that acts much like a router and provides protocol conversion, connection concentration, and access control.

The book also describes the utilities Oracle provides to help manage a Net8 environment; these include the Listener Control Utility (lsnrctl), the Oracle Names Control Utility (namesctl), the Oracle Connection Manager Control Utility (cmctl), tnsping, and Net8 Assistant. In addition, it provides a variety of networking troubleshooting techniques and commonly encountered Net8 configuration problems, and provides complete syntax for all networking files and commands.

Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices

£11.16

Steven Feuerstein; ISBN: 0-596-00121-5

In this book, Steven Feuerstein, widely recognized as one of the world's experts on the Oracle PL/SQL language, distills his many years of programming, writing, and teaching about PL/SQL into a set of PL/SQL language "best practices"--rules for writing code that is readable, maintainable, and efficient. Too often, developers focus on simply writing programs that run without errors--and ignore the impact of poorly written code upon both system performance and their ability (and their colleagues' ability) to maintain that code over time.

Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices is a concise, easy-to-use reference to Feuerstein's recommendations for excellent PL/SQL coding. It answers the kinds of questions PL/SQL developers most frequently ask about their code:

• How should I format my code?
• What naming conventions, if any, should I use?
• How can I write my packages so they can be more easily maintained?
• What is the most efficient way to query information from the database?
• How can I get all the developers on my team to handle errors the same way?

The book contains 120 best practices, divided by topic area. It's full of advice on the program development process, coding style, writing SQL in PL/SQL, data structures, control structures, exception handling, program and package construction, and built-in packages. It also contains a handy, pull-out quick reference card. As a helpful supplement to the text, code examples demonstrating each of the best practices are available on the O'Reilly web site.

Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices is intended as a companion to O'Reilly's larger Oracle PL/SQL books. It's a compact, readable reference that you'll turn to again and again--a book that no serious developer can afford to be without.

Oracle PL/SQL Built-ins Pocket Reference

£5.56

Steven Feuerstein,John Beresniewicz and Chip Dawes; ISBN: 1-56592-456-8

This pocket reference provides quick-reference information that will help you use Oracle Corporation's extensive set of built-in functions and packages, including those new to Oracle8.

Oracle's PL/SQL language is a programming language providing procedural extensions to the SQL relational database language and to an ever-growing number of Oracle development tools. Among the most useful constructs in the PL/SQL language are the built-in functions and packages.

Built-in functions are constructs that operate on certain types of data (e.g., numeric, character) to return a result. By using functions, you can minimize the coding you need to do in your programs. Functions are described in detail in Steven Feuerstein's Oracle PL/SQL Programming; this comprehensive guide to building applications with PL/SQL has become the bible for PL/SQL developers who have raved about its completeness, readability, and practicality.

Built-in functions fall into several major categories:

• Character functions: Operate on character data. Examples include CONCAT (concatenates two strings into one), LENGTH (returns the length of a string), and REPLACE (replaces a character sequence in a string with a different set of characters).
• Date functions: Operate on dates and supplement the DATE datatype. Examples include SYSDATE (returns the current date and time in the Oracle Server) and LAST_DAY (returns the last day in the month of the specified date).
• Numeric functions: Operate on numeric data. Examples include CEIL (returns the smallest integer greater than or equal to the specified number) and POWER (returns a number raised to a particular power).
• LOB functions: Operate on large object data. Examples include EMPTY_BLOB (returns an empty locator of the binary large object type) and EMPTY_CLOB (returns an empty locator of the character large object type).
• Conversion functions: Perform explicit conversions of different types of data. Examples include TO_CHAR (converts a number or date to a string) and TO_NUMBER (converts a string to a number).
• Miscellaneous functions. Examples include GREATEST (returns the greatest of the specified list of values) and UID (returns the user ID of the current Oracle session).

Built-in packages (collections of PL/SQL objects, such as functions, procedures, and data structures) greatly expand the scope of the PL/SQL language. These packages are described in detail in Feuerstein's and Beresniewicz's book, Oracle Built-in Packages. Built-in packages are built by Oracle Corporation and stored directly in the Oracle database. The functionality of the built-ins is available from any programming environment that can call PL/SQL stored procedures, including Visual Basic, Oracle Developer/2000, Oracle Application Server (for Web-based development), and, of course, the Oracle database itself.

Built-in packages extend the capabilities and power of PL/SQL in many significant ways. For example:

• DBMS_SQL executes dynamically constructed SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks of code.
• DBMS_PIPE communicates between different Oracle sessions through a pipe in the RDBMS shared memory.
• DBMS_JOB submits and manages regularly scheduled jobs for execution inside the database.
• DBMS_LOB accesses and manipulates Oracle8's large objects (LOBs) from within PL/SQL programs.

The book shows how to call all of the commonly used built-in functions and packages. For packages, it also shows the RESTRICT REFERENCES pragmas (needed if you call packages from a SQL statement), as well as the exceptions, constants, and data structures defined in the packages.

Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook

£20.76

Steven Feuerstein and Andrew Odewahn; ISBN: 1-56592-674-9

However excellent they are, most computer books are inherently passive--readers simply take in text without having any opportunity to react to it. The Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook is a different kind of animal! It's designed to engage you actively, to get you solving programming problems immediately, and to help you apply what you've learned about PL/SQL--and in the process deepen your knowledge of the language. By tackling the exercises in this workbook, you'll find yourself moving more rapidly along the learning curve to join the growing ranks of PL/SQL experts.

The Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook is a companion to Steven Feuerstein's bestselling Oracle PL/SQL Programming and his other PL/SQL books from O'Reilly. It contains a carefully constructed set of problems and solutions that will test your language skills and help you become a better developer--both with PL/SQL and with other languages. Exercises are provided at three levels: beginner, intermediate, and expert. The workbook exercises cover all the major features of PL/SQL, including those new to Oracle8i (e.g., Java and web features, autonomous transactions, and bulk binds).

You'll find chapters on:

• Basic language elements--variables, naming, loops, conditional and sequential control, exception handling, and records.
• Data structures--index-by tables, nested tables, variables arrays (VARRAYs), and object technology.
• Database interaction--cursors, DML and transaction management, cursor variables, and native dynamic SQL
• Program construction--procedures, functions, blocks, packages, database triggers, and calling PL/SQL functions in SQL.
• Built-in functionality--the character, date, conversion, numeric, and miscellaneous functions, and the DBMS_SQL, DBMS_PIPE, DBMS_OUTPUT, UTL_FILE, and DBMS_JOB built-in packages.
• Miscellaneous topics--using Java with PL/SQL, external programs, PL/SQL web development, tuning PL/SQL, and PL/SQL for DBAs.

Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition

£5.56

Steven Feuerstein,Bill Pribyl and Chip Dawes; ISBN: 0-59600-680-2

While it's good to have a book with all the answers--like your trusty copy of Oracle PL/SQL Programming-- how often do you need all the answers? More likely, you just need a reminder, a quick answer to a problem you're up against. For these times, nothing's handier than the new edition of the Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference by PL/SQL experts Stephen Feuerstein, Bill Pribyl, and Chip Dawes. Newly updated for Oracle10g, this little book is always at the ready for the quick problem solving you need.

The 3rd edition of this popular mini-reference boils down the most vital information from Oracle PL/SQL Programming into a handy guide to PL/SQL basics. The book includes fundamental language elements, such as block structure, identifiers, variables, datatypes, ad declarations; statements for program control, cursor management, and exception handling; the basics of records, procedures, functions, triggers, and packages; and the calling of PL/QL functions in SQL.

And there's more. This concise guide also covers Oracle objects, collections, external procedures, Java integration, and new Oracle 10g elements like regular expressions, compile-time warnings, more implicit conversion, FORALL support for non-consecutive indexes, and more. The amount of valuable information packed into this slim volume--intelligently arranged for quick accessibility--make this an indispensable reference for new and seasoned Oracle database developers alike.

O'Reilly's Pocket References have become a favorite among developers and database administrators everywhere. By providing a wealth of important details in a concise, well-organized format, these handy books deliver just what you need to complete the task at hand. When you've reached a sticking point in your work and need to get to a solution quickly, the 3rd edition of Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference is the book you'll want to have.

Oracle PL/SQL Programming, 3rd Edition

£31.16

Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl; ISBN: 0-596-00381-1

Nearly a quarter-million PL/SQL programmers--novices and experienced developers alike--have found the first and second editions of Oracle PL/SQL Programming to be indispensable references to this powerful language. Packed with examples and recommendations, this book has helped everyone, from Oracle Forms developers to database administrators, make the most of PL/SQL. This new edition is a comprehensive update of the original book, covering all versions of PL/SQL through Oracle9i Release 2. It adds much-requested new chapters on how to create and run PL/SQL programs, call Java methods from within PL/SQL, and define and use database triggers. An extensive new chapter--designed especially for experienced PL/SQL developers--describes PL/SQL's runtime architecture and how to use knowledge of Oracle internals to get the best performance from PL/SQL.

The book contains information about the latest Oracle9i PL/SQL features, including:

• Record-based DML: You can now use records in INSERT and DELETE statements.
• Table functions: These are functions that return a result set (in the form of a PL/SQL collection). Such functions existed in Oracle8i but they are now much expanded.
• New and improved datatypes: Oracle now offers dramatically improved support for timestamps, time zone management, and interval calculations. In addition, the XMLType datatype has now been implemented.
• Inheritance for object types: You can now define a hierarchy of object types (which were first introduced in Oracle8).
• Enhancements to PL/SQL collections. PL/SQL now supports multiple-level collections (nesting collections within collections), as well as associative arrays (previously called index-by tables), which allow you to index by PLS_INTEGER and VARCHAR2.
• Native compilation of PL/SQL code: PL/SQL source code can now optionally be compiled into native object code that is linked into Oracle.

The book is divided into six parts:

• Part I, Programming in PL/SQL
• Part II, PL/SQL Program Structure
• Part III, PL/SQL Program Data
• Part IV, SQL in PL/SQL
• Part V, PL/SQL Application Construction
• Part VI, Advanced PL/SQL Topics

Even if you've been a PL/SQL developer for years, you'll find an enormous amount of new and revised information in this third edition and on its companion web site. If you're new to PL/SQL, you'll find Oracle PL/SQL Programming an invaluable companion on the road to mastery.

Oracle RMAN Pocket Reference

£5.56

Darl Kuhn and Scott Schulze; ISBN: 0-596-00233-5

Oracle RMAN Pocket Reference

is a handy guide for DBAs who intend to use Oracle Recovery Manager for database backup and recovery. Because Recovery Manager (RMAN) is a relatively new tool, many DBAs are just becoming familiar with it. They will welcome a timely book that explains clearly and concisely how to use RMAN for common backup and recovery tasks that are infrequent, yet extremely vital.

The first portion of the book is primarily task-oriented. After a short section on RMAN architecture, the book shows (in checklist style) how to perform common backup and recovery tasks such as:

• Implementing a recovery catalog Creating and running RMAN scripts Configuring input/output channels
• Taking a full database backup Backing up tablespaces and datafiles Taking incremental backups Recovering lost datafiles

The second portion of the book consists of a handy syntax reference to the many RMAN commands. Having a quick reference to RMAN commands is a great convenience to DBAs who otherwise, often under the pressure of a recovery situation, would have to wade through Oracle's online documentation.

Oracle Regular Expressions Pocket Reference

£5.56

Jonathan Gennick and Peter Linsley; ISBN: 0-596-00601-2

Support for regular expressions in SQL and PL/SQL is one of the most exciting features of Oracle Database 10G. Oracle has long supported the ANSI-standard LIKE predicate for rudimentary pattern matching, but regular expressions take pattern matching to a new level. They provide a powerful way to select data that matches a pattern, as well as to manipulate, rearrange, and change that data.

This concise pocket guide is part tutorial and part quick-reference. It's suitable for those who have never used regular expressions before, as well as those who have experience with Perl and other languages supporting regular expressions. The book describes Oracle Database 10G's support for regular expressions, including globalization support and differences between Perl's syntax and the POSIX syntax supported by Oracle 10G. It also provides a comprehensive reference, including examples, to all supported regular expression operators, functions, and error messages.

O'Reilly's Pocket References have become a favorite among developers and database administrators everywhere. By providing a wealth of important details in a concise, well-organized format, these handy books deliver just what you need to complete the task at hand. Whether you're using regular expressions for the first time or applying your skills from other languages to the latest version of Oracle, the Oracle Regular Expressions Pocket Reference is the book to have close by.

Oracle SQL Tuning Pocket Reference

£5.56

Mark Gurry; ISBN: 0-596-00268-8

One of the most important challenges faced by Oracle database administrators and Oracle developers is the need to tune SQL statements so that they execute efficiently. Poorly tuned SQL statements are one of the leading causes of substandard database performance and poor response time. SQL statements that perform poorly result in frustration for users, and can even prevent a company from serving its customers in a timely manner.

In this book, Mark Gurry shares his in-depth knowledge of Oracle's SQL statement optimizers. Mark's knowledge is the result of many hard-fought tuning battles during his many years of providing Oracle tuning services to clients. Mark provides insights into the workings of the rule-based optimizer that go well beyond what the rules tell you. Mark also provides solutions to many common problems that occur with both the rule-based and cost-based optimizers.

In addition to the specific problem/solution scenarios for the optimizers, Mark provides a number of handy SQL tuning tips. He discusses the various optimizer hints, telling you when they can be used to good effect. Finally, Mark discusses the use of the DBMS_STATS package to manage database statistics, and the use of outlines to specify execution plans for SQL statements in third-party applications that you can't otherwise modify.

Oracle SQL*Loader: The Definitive Guide

£19.96

Jonathan Gennick and Sanjay Mishra; ISBN: 1-56592-948-9

SQL*Loader is a ubiquitous tool in the Oracle world. It has been shipped with Oracle since at least Version 6 and continues to be supported and enhanced with each new version of Oracle, including Oracle8 and Oracle8i. The job of SQL*Loader is to load data from flat files into an Oracle database. It's optimized for loading large volumes of data, and is flexible enough to handle virtually any input format.

Almost every Oracle user has to use SQL*Loader at one time or another, and DBAs are frequently called upon to load data for the users in their organization. Despite SQL*Loader's wide availability and usage, few DBAs and developers know how to get the most out of it. Oracle SQL*Loader: The Definitive Guide has everything you need to know to put SQL*Loader to its best use: an introduction to SQL*Loader, a reference to all of its syntax options, and most importantly, step-by-step instructions for all the SQL*Loader tasks you'd want to perform--and maybe some you didn't realize you COULD perform.

You'll learn how to construct the necessary control files and load from different types of files containing different types of data (e.g., fixed-width data, delimited data, and data of various datatypes). You'll also learn how to validate data, load it selectively, transform it as it is loaded, and recover after failure. This book explains how to optimize SQL*Loader performance by adjusting the transaction size and using the new direct path option. It also covers the newest SQL*Loader features--the loading of large object (LOB) columns and the new object types (nested tables, varying arrays, and object tables).

Oracle SQL*Loader: The Definitive Guide is an indispensable resource for anyone who is new to SQL*Loader; a task-oriented learning tool for those who are already using it; and a quick reference for every user. If you want to take best advantage of an essential Oracle tool, you need this book.

Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference, 3rd Edition

£5.56

Jonathan Gennick; ISBN: 0-596-00885-6

The Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference is a must-have for anyone working with Oracle databases, especially those looking to maximize the effectiveness of SQL*Plus. As Oracle's long-standing interactive query tool, SQL*Plus is available at every Oracle site, from the largest data warehouse to the smallest single-user system. Despite its wide use, however, SQL*Plus is still often not completely understood or fully utilized.

Database administrators and developers alike will therefore find the Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference to be extremely beneficial. In addition to summarizing all of the SQL*Plus syntax and format options, including new Oracle Database 10g features, this handy, on-the-job guide specifically shows readers how to:

• Differentiate between SQL and SQL*Plus

• Interact with SQL*Plus from both the command line and the web browser

• Select, insert, update, and delete data

• Format both text and HTML reports with SQL*Plus

• Specify SQL*Plus commands and format elements

• Tune SQL queries

  The new third edition of this book has been updated for Oracle Database 10g to include information on both SQL*Plus and SQL. New SQL information includes the SELECT statement's new MODEL clause, flashback queries, partition outer joins, and DBMS_XPLAN.

  With its quick-reference format and compact size, the Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference follows in the long line of successful "pocket references" offered by O'Reilly. It also serves as the ideal companion to O'Reilly's larger, more comprehensive book on SQL*Plus, the bestselling Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide.

  Author Jonathan Gennick is an editor for O'Reilly specializing in database and programming titles, having amassed some 17 years of programming and database management experience.

Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

£22.80

Jonathan Gennick; ISBN: 0-596-00746-9

Despite its wide availability and usage, few developers and DBAs have mastered the true power of Oracle SQL*Plus. This bestselling book--now updated for Oracle 10g--is the only in-depth guide to this interactive query tool for writing SQL scripts. It's an essential resource for any Oracle user.

The new second edition of Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide clearly describes how to perform, step-by-step, all of the tasks that Oracle developers and DBAs want to perform with SQL*Plus--and maybe some you didn't realize you could perform.

With Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide, you'll expertly:

• write and execute script files

• generate ad hoc reports

• extract data from the database

• query the data dictionary tables

• customize an SQL*Plus environment

• and much more

  It also includes a handy quick reference to all of its syntax options and an often-requested chapter on SQL itself, along with a clear, concise, and complete introduction.

  This book is truly the definitive guide to SQL*Plus. It's an indispensable resource for those who are new to SQL*Plus, a task-oriented learning tool for those who are already using it, and an immediately useful quick reference for every user. If you want to leverage the full power and flexibility of this popular Oracle tool, you'll need this book.

Oracle Scripts

£16.76

Brian Lomasky and David C. Kreines; ISBN: 1-56592-438-X

This book provides a powerful set of tools for Oracle database administrators and developers. During their many years of administering, tuning, and troubleshooting Oracle databases, the authors have developed hundreds of useful scripts. Now you can instantly take advantage of their experience by putting these scripts to work at your own site. DBAs and developers are constantly reinventing the wheel. Most Oracle sites have similar requirements, problems, and crises, and at most of these sites DBAs and developers find themselves reinventing the wheel by writing the same kinds of scripts -- and too often they're writing them under pressure, in hit-or-miss and error-prone fashion.

The scripts in this book are tried-and-true. They've been thoroughly tested in many different environments. You can use them right now to simplify the tasks you perform each day -- monitoring databases for reliability, protecting your database against data loss, improving performance, increasing security, and building reports that provide insight into the inner workings of Oracle databases. You can also turn to these scripts in emergencies to diagnose system problems and repair databases when the pressure is on.

The book includes:

• Scripts for DBAs -- The ways that DBAs structure files, allocate disk space, tune systems, and enforce security have an enormous impact on how efficiently and effectively systems will operate. The scripts in this category analyze performance, check database reliability, produce security and auditing reports, perform backups and restores, and work with the Oracle Applications.
• Scripts for developers and designers -- These scripts help to create, analyze, report, and reverse-engineer the objects in the database. They also allow developers to easily create EXPLAIN PLAN reports on SQL statements, and they provide a front end to RCS (the Revision Control System).
• Utility scripts -- These scripts perform a variety of operating system, file, directory, and memory operations (aimed particularly at UNIX sites). You can customize these scripts for your own operating system. The accompanying CD-ROM provides a comprehensive resource for DBAs and developers. It contains complete source code for all of the scripts described in this book, as well as additional software that you will find helpful in monitoring and improving the performance of your databases.

A brief table of contents follows:

Part I: Overview

• Introduction

Part II: Scripts for DBAs

• Database Control Utilities
• Database Performance and Trend Analysis Utilities
• Database Reliability Monitoring Utilities
• Database Security Reports and Utilities
• Database Backup Utilities
• Oracle Applications Utilities

Part III. Scripts for Developers and Designers

• Database-Design/DDL Utilities
• Database Developer Utilities

IV: UNIX Utility Scripts

• General System Utilities
• Directory and File Management Utilities
• Memory Usage Reports

Part V. Appendixes

• A. SQL Scripts That Create Oracle Tables
• B. Tables Created by SQL Scripts
• C. SQL Scripts That Create Output Files
• D. Output Files Created by SQL Scripts

Oracle Utilities Pocket Reference

£5.56

Sanjay Mishra; ISBN: 0-596-00899-6

The Oracle Utilities Pocket Reference is a handy, quick-reference guide to the multitude of Oracle utilities that database administrators (DBAs) use every hour of every day.

As the undisputed leader among database products, Oracle is grasped conceptually by most DBAs. However, they understandably may not recall the specific utility to use for a given task, and, more commonly, won't in many cases remember the syntax to use. And that's exactly what the Oracle Utilities Pocket Reference supplies--the syntax and options for whatever utility a DBA needs to perform a given task.

Some of the utilities documented in this guide include:

• SQL*Loader, for loading data

• expdp and exp for exporting data to another database

• oradebug for use in troubleshooting

• loadjava and dropjava for loading and unloading Java programs

  Packed with information in an easy-to-read format, this valuable resource is ideal for any experienced DBA. Even database programmers who deal with Oracle will truly appreciate having the Oracle Utilities Pocket Reference close at hand.

  Authored by Sanjay Mishra, a foremost authority on Oracle systems, this convenient and compact guide is focused and to-the-point, eliminating any potential guesswork or difficult memorization. The Oracle Utilities Pocket Reference is part of the strong-selling collection of O'Reilly "pocket reference" books.

Oracle in a Nutshell

£28.40

Rick Greenwald and David C. Kreines; ISBN: 0-596-00336-6

Introduced a quarter-century ago, the Oracle database remains the leading enterprise relational database management system (RDBMS) in the world. Oracle is a complex system, offering a myriad of products, languages, and tools. Frequent updates, releases, and editions complicate the ability of Oracle users to keep up with the huge amounts of frequently changing information about the database and its capabilities.

The goal of Oracle in a Nutshell is to pull together the most essential information on Oracle architecture, syntax, and user interfaces. The content and format of this book, an admirable addition to O'Reilly's respected In-a-Nutshell line, combine to boil down vital Oracle commands, language constructs, parameters, and file formats in a succinct and highly accessible desktop reference.

Oracle in a Nutshell covers the information that database administrators PL/SQL and Java developers, and system, network, and security administrators need as they manage Oracle databases and write code for these databases. It includes:

• Oracle Foundations--Overview of the Oracle architecture (memory structures and fundamental concepts), Oracle's various editions and packaging options, summary of the initialization file parameters and data dictionary views, and fundamentals of Oracle's concurrency scheme, security mechanisms (privileges, profiles, roles), and networking files (TNSNAMES.ORA, SQLNET.ORA, LISTENER.ORA, DAP.ORA, NAMES.ORA, CMAN.ORA) and options.
• Oracle Languages--Syntax summary for SQL language statements, SQL function calls PL/SQL language statements and characteristics, PL/SQL built-in package headers, and Java (JDBC and SQLJ) interfaces to the Oracle database.
• Oracle Tools--Commands provided with SQL*Plus, SQL*Loader, Import and Export, Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) and other backup/recovery methods, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and various performance tuning tools (Explain Plan, TKPROF, AUTOTRACE, UTLBSTAT, UTLESTAT, Statspack).
• Appendixes--Summary of Oracle datatypes, operators, expressions, conditions, numeric and date formats, and resources for additional reading.

Oracle8i Internal Services for Waits, Latches, Locks and Memory

£11.16

Steve Adams; ISBN: 1-56592-598-X

This concise book contains detailed information about Oracle internals -- information that's not readily available to Oracle customers. It lays a foundation for advanced performance tuning of the Oracle database. Based on Oracle8i release 8.1, the book describes many of the secrets of Oracle's internal services: data structures, algorithms, and undocumented Oracle system statistics. Main topics include:

• Waits - how Oracle processes communicate via semaphores, and how to use the Oracle wait statistics to identify the source of performance problems.
• Latches - how they keep multiple processes from inspecting protected data structures at the same time, and how to examine and control latch behavior and statistics.
• Locks - how they work with latches to protect data structures (locks allow multiple sessions to share resources in some cases), and how locks affect performance. There is also a detailed discussion of instance locks, which are used in parallel server environments.
• Memory - how Oracle uses memory (e.g., the various elements of the System Global Area), and how Oracle dynamically allocates and manages memory.

Oracle8i Internal Services is aimed especially at administrators and developers who need detailed internal information to do advanced performance tuning. The book will expand your repertoire of tuning solutions and troubleshooting techniques by explaining how you can use Oracle's hidden parameters and undocumented system statistics to best advantage.

NOTE: The author has collected the scripts he has developed for tuning and analysis into a toolkit (known as APT, for Advanced Performance Tuning). These scripts access the Oracle X$ tables directly and provide information not otherwise available. The scripts are available to readers for free from the O'Reilly web site.

Perl for Oracle DBAs

£25.56

Andy Duncan and Jared Still; ISBN: 0-596-00210-6

Perl is a very powerful tool for Oracle database administrators, but too few DBAs realize how helpful Perl can be in managing, monitoring, and tuning Oracle databases. Whether you're responsible for Oracle9i, Oracle8i, or earlier databases, you'll find Perl an invaluable addition to your database administration arsenal.

You don't need to be a Perl expert to use the excellent applications and scripts described in Perl for Oracle DBAs. The book explains what you need to know about Perl, provides a wealth of ready-to-use scripts developed especially for Oracle DBAs, and suggests many resources for further exploration. The book covers:

• The Perl language -- an introduction to Perl, its rich history and culture, and its extensive text processing and data transformation capabilities.
• The Perl/Oracle architecture -- Detailed information about Perl DBI, DBD::Oracle, the Oracle Call Interface (OCI), Oracle::OCI, extproc_perl, and mod_perl, the modules that allow Perl programs to communicate with Oracle databases.
• Perl applications for Oracle DBAs -- Profiles of the best Perl open source applications available for use and customization by Oracle DBAs: Perl/Tk, OraExplain, StatsView, Orac, DDL::Oracle, SchemaDiff, Senora, DBD::Chart, SchemaView-Plus, Oracletool, Karma, Embperl, and Mason.
• The Perl Database Administration (PDBA) Toolkit -- a comprehensive suite of specialized, ready-to-use scripts designed to help Oracle DBAs perform both routine and special-purpose administrative tasks: monitoring the Oracle alert log and databases, creating and managing Oracle user accounts, maintaining indexes and extents, extracting DDL and data, troubleshooting and tuning database problems, and much more.

The book also explains how Oracle DBAs and developers can extend the toolkit and solve their own database administration problems using Perl.