Who Will Benefit from This Book?

This is a programmer's book. Some programming knowledge is helpful but not essential. No prior knowledge of Oracle is required. Developers transitioning from other databases to an Oracle environment can benefit from the detailed explanations , numerous figures, and many code examples that illustrate Oracle structures. The discussion on triggers and PL/SQL is geared toward an individual who wants a quick transition from other programming paradigms to the PL/SQL model. I have worked on Oracle projects staffed with non-Oracle database developers and understand the confusion with terminology. A consistent focus of this text is to explain the basic paradigm, which helps readers who are new to the technology as well as experienced developers who are cross-training.

This text can help developers who are transitioning from non-relational databases to Oracle. Chapter 1 addresses the beginnings of SQL. Developers from hierarchical and network databases will find this chapter a place in which that they can put SQL into perspective. The early part of my career included five years on a hierarchical database and three years on a network database. I understand the transition needed to switch to Oracle, and the explanations in this text should address the needs of non-relational developers who are cross-training.

Developers who naturally "dig" into a subject will benefit from the discussion on the Oracle data dictionary, addressed extensively in Chapter 5. This chapter illustrates extracting constraint definitions from the data dictionary. A curious developer can expand this simple technique to extract unlimited information from the data dictionary. This is highly beneficial to anxious learners. Readers of the previous editions have mentioned this as one of the most helpful parts of the book because it taught them how to explore and learn on their own.

Developers often find themselves performing database administration ”usually on a development server. This text is a good starting point for beginning database administration. Developers are naturally in touch with the logical world of tables and tablespaces. The discussion on the physical aspects of the database, tablespace data files, is an excellent starting point for a developer who needs to understand the physical aspects of an Oracle environment.

Foremost is the emphasis on building business logic in an Oracle database. A consistent theme in the text is to make the database work for you. An application team that capitalizes on declarative constraints can produce an " intelligent " database in which all data conforms to strict business-rule logic. Furthermore, when the team incorporates triggers with PL/SQL, the database integrity extends to a point where it can perform logical operations on the end- user 's behalf . This can include complex business-rule enforcement as well as actions such as automatic email notification, which is illustrated in Chapter 11.