Oracle 10g: SQL [Paperback]

Joan Casteel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 2006 | ISBN-10: 141883629X | ISBN-13: 978-1418836290 | Edition: 1

Oracle 10g: SQL prepares students for the first exam in both the Oracle Database Administrator (DBA) and Oracle Forms Developer certification tracks and offers them a solid understanding of Oracle10g and how to use it effectively. This textbook is not simply a study guide; it is written for individuals who have just a basic knowledge of databases and can be utilized in a course on this latest implementation of SQL from Oracle. Students begin with a solid foundation for creating databases (7 chapters) then strengthen their knowledge in creating queries (7 chapters). To assist students in bridging SQL topics to further studies, the last two chapters introduce students to SQL tuning, compare Oracle's SQL syntax to other databases (MS SQL Server and MySQL) and describe how SQL can be embedded in applications (ASP.net). This textbook also covers SQL*Plus and iSQL*Plus so students can identify and distinguish the differences between these interfaces.

Product Details

• Paperback: 618 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology; 1 edition (January 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 141883629X
• ISBN-13: 978-1418836290
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #217,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great intro into Oracle, April 24, 2007

By 

rdblakemore (Parker, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle 10g: SQL (Paperback)

This book was the required reading for a database concepts class as part of a master's program. It's a great introduction into not only to SQL, but also Oracle. As someone who has worked with SQL often, but never with Oracle, I found this book to be very informative and helpful. It will serve as a good reference in the future.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Accomplishes it's goal, July 12, 2008

By 

Konstantin (Inland Empire & San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oracle 10g: SQL (Paperback)

The goal of this book is to teach SQL used in Oracle 10g. It's does pretty fair job in reaching it's goal.
What it is and what it is not:

- it is a book on 10g SQL.
It covers most if not all what one can expect to learn from one book on Oracle 10g SQL. It covers: briefly basic of database development theory, Data Control Language, Data Manipulation Language, Data Definition Language. Pretty much every aspect of the Oralce SQL you need from introductory class. It uses handy practical examples throughout the book, based on database created by the author. CD with files included (even though I didn't install any of it. We used college database and SQL Plus)

- it is not a book on database administration.
While it has section on user creation/management, it's prime goal is not how to properly install and backup database. And what's covered is not as extensive as you would expect from DBA text.

- I don't remember finding any bugs, or typos with any examples. That's good.
- Overall pretty good resource. I learned great deal of this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Intro to SQL & Oracle But Use Oracle XE Instead of CD, January 10, 2011

By 

QueueNut "Greg" (Colorado, United States of America) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oracle 10g: SQL (Paperback)

I have a background in data analysis and decided to take a formal course in SQL to fill in some holes in my knowledge and leverage learning from the professor's experience. This book was used as the core of that course.

Based on that, I recommend this book as a fine introduction to SQL and to Oracle syntax. You will receive a solid grounding in SQL and introductory Oracle, imho.

Thirteen of the fifteen chapters provide good foundation in SQL and Oracle, though as one would expect, working the exercises is critical for learning, including use of an Oracle SQL development environment (more on that, below).

Even ch 7 about Users and Roles has its uses but in my opinion, that is secondary to core SQL.

Ch 14 about formatting reports, important to know how write CSV output for ingestion by Excel or other programs, but one will find any company will use separate reporting software and do not use crude SQL output directly as a screen interface report format. It would be like using a mainframe screen interface, what you'd envision Lucifer having you use in Hell [vi a close second, for that matter!], as accustomed to GUIs and smart phone interfaces as you are! The business people wouldn't be able to stand it...

The book also touches on more powerful and widely useful concepts in its into treatment to use of variables and substitution in ch 5. That serves as a touchpoint for integrating the database with other programs, maybe web pages or automation of data analysis.

The Syntax Summary at the end of each chapter serves as a succinct review section and mini-reference just before the chapter exercises. The number and level of the exercises is rich for an intro course, which include multiple choice questions and hands-on exercises plus a separate advanced case study that progresses with each chapter's material.

As for the CDs that come with this book, dump (recycle) them! Avoid them completely! My fellow students and I were unable to successfully install the CD on Windows XP. Free download Oracle development software (being updated/maintained vs. static software on CD) makes these CDs 100% superfluous!

Save yourself a lot of time: Google "OTN" and download Oracle's free Oracle Database XE. XE or Express Edition includes both the 10g database and a rich SQL development environment (Oracle Application Express). If your course includes a full project or delves further into table design, consider also downloading two other free environments, Oracle SQL Developer and Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler. The latter depends on the former and gives you a GUI envrionment for creating your project's E-R diagrams. To avoid a small debugging annoyance, download the Database XE installation kit that has a JRE included, and download one of the other two environemnts with a JDK included, you will see options for downloads that do or do not include these.

One area I think this and other SQL books could help people conceptually is by using illustrations and explanation to better relate tables to students' common experience with files and file systems, but differentiating the table and its associated logical and physical structures and metadata from the plain flat file and its more limited metadata.

Some of the other reviewers recommend it as a reference book but I think that may be the case only if one suspects they will be a light and occassional SQL user. Other books will serve as better references if one gets into using SQL regularly in their work, for example.