Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)) [Paperback]

Steven Feuerstein (Author), Bill Pribyl (Author), Chip Dawes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0596514042 | ISBN-13: 978-0596514044 | Publication Date: October 30, 2007 | Edition: Fourth Edition

The fourth edition of this popular pocket guide provides quick-reference information that will help you use Oracle's PL/SQL language, including the newest Oracle Database 11g features. It's a companion to Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl's bestselling Oracle PL/SQL Programming.

This concise guide boils down the most vital PL/SQL information into an accessible summary of:

• Fundamental language elements (e.g., block structure, datatypes, declarations)



• Statements for program control, cursor management, and exception handling



• Records, procedures, functions, triggers, and packages



• Calling PL/SQL functions in SQL



• Compilation options, object-oriented features, collections, and Java integration

The new edition describes such Oracle Database 11g elements as PL/SQL's function result cache, compound triggers, the CONTINUE statement, the SIMPLE_INTEGER datatype, and improvements to native compilation, regular expressions, and compiler optimization (including intra-unit inlining). In addition, this book now includes substantial new sections on Oracle's built-in functions and packages.

When you need answers quickly, the Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference will save you hours of frustration.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Steven Feuerstein is considered one of the world's leading experts on the Oracle PL/SQL language. He is the author or coauthor of Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices, Oracle PL/SQL Programming: Guide to Oracle8i Features, Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook, Oracle Built-in Packages, Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages, and several pocket reference books (all from O'Reilly & Associates). Steven is a Senior Technology Advisor with Quest Software, has been developing software since 1980, and worked for Oracle Corporation from 1987 to 1992.

Bill Pribyl is the primary author of "Learning Oracle PL/SQL" and the coauthor of Oracle PL/SQL Programming and its companion pocket reference, all from O'Reilly Media. He is oddly proud of having used PL/SQL to write TCP/IP networking clients, tnsping callouts, near-realtime commodity price loaders, and transcendental functions. Bill, who holds a degree in physics from Rice University, is the former editor of the IOUG technical journal (Select) and former president of the South Central Oracle Users Group. At home with his family in Houston, Texas, Bill's current nonbillable titles include Webmaster for his neighborhood civic club, "IT Guy" for his son's Boy Scout troop, and Eucharistic Adoration Coordinator for his church. Visit Bill's firm at http://www.datacraft.com.

Chip Dawes has been building and maintaining systems on relational databases since 1988 and with Oracle since 1990. He is currently a consultant with D&D Technologies, a Chicago consultancy. He enjoys working with, lecturing on, and writing about Oracle database administration, client server application development, and Unix system administration. Chip is an Oracle Certified Professional and earned computer science and aerospace engineering degrees from St. Louis University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Fourth Edition edition (October 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596514042
• ISBN-13: 978-0596514044
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Oracle

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only "OK", May 18, 2000

By 

Andrew Harbick (Harrisonburg, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference (Paperback)

I've worked with Oracle for quite a while, and I've tinkered with PL/SQL, triggers, etc. on and off during the time that I used Oracle. Recently, I needed to write a really simple PL/SQL program to assist in doing a backfill. I bought this book expecting to pluck out details quickly for writing this program. Unfortunately, there was no index, and the table of contents was a little too high-level to help you find specific information. Finally, once you locate an appropriate section, the text is terse and the examples are quite basic.

I concede that I probably should've bought "Oracle PL/SQL Language" the book for which this is a reference for my particular need. Just beware, however, that this book is solely a reference, and is hard to use unless you already know PL/SQL.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great pocket reference, 2nd edition WITH INDEX now, April 3, 2003

By 

Gregor Theis (Meerbusch Deutschland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference (Paperback)

This small booklet "ORACLE PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference" in this new 2nd edition is exactly what you need as PL/SQL (PL/SQL is the ORACLE procedural language extension of SQL) programmer (and is even more important for casual PL/SQL programmer).

"ORACLE PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference" assumes that you are running at least ORACLE 8i and it covers ORACLE 9i as well (ORACLE 9i features are marked as such).

The content and coverage of the book is very good from my perspective. Even the more exotic features that I just can't remember, like e.g. the AUTHID stuff for PL/SQL procedures, are covered in this book. Even if you do not remember the exact keyword to look something up in the index, the book is still small enough to brose over every page in a couple of minutes to find your solution. All of the ORACLE 9i features (that I know of) are explained like e.g. "bulk binds" (cool PL/SQL performance feature).

The language and the new index are very good.

Even though this is a relatively small book, there are examples for almost every topic covered (although not big ones).

This is NOT the right book to learn PL/SQL and it will not teach you any SQL. If you want to learn PL/SQL, I recommend the other books (by the same authors) from O'Reilly that are all VERY good.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Handy but could be easier to access topics, June 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference (Paperback)

There is no index and only a scanty table of contents. You are forced to go to the area and browse for information. It is a short book, and scanning works, but an index would be more efficient.