Conventions Used in This Book

Preface

 

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The following conventions are used in this book:

Italic

is used for file and directory names.

Bold

is used in headers.

Constant width

is used for code examples and for variable, procedure, function, and package names in the text, as well as executable SQL scripts.

UPPERCASE

in code examples, indicates PL/SQL keywords.

lowercase

in code examples, indicates user-defined items such as variables and parameters.

punctuation

in code examples, enter exactly as shown.

indentation

in code examples, helps to show structure but is not required.

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In code examples and related discussions, a dot qualifies a reference by separating an object name from a component name. For example, dot notation is used to specify declarations within a package (e.g., PLVvu.code).

In general, all of the discussions and examples in this book apply regardless of the machine and/or operating system you are using. In those few cases where a feature is in any way system-dependent, I note that in the text.