Customer Reviews

Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference, Second Edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

An index would make this pocket reference 5 stars. The TOC - (Table of Contents) is helpful but an Index would be better in addition to the TOC.

Gio

Concise, precise and to the point. While not a complete reference, it servers its purpose well: quick lookup of on the fly syntax questions. Tiny, but the author found enough space to squeeze in an actual example of most major constructs.

A good sidekick for when you have a mental lapse, unfortunately they seem to have forgot to print the index.
This book will not replace any other PL/SQL book you have (or should have) in your tech library, but is great to have around on your desk instead of the usual 4,000 pages tomes.

Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference
Steven Feuerstein
O'Reilly - 4th Edition
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514044/index.html

This book covers the most common topics in PL/SQL in a compact format. The format is "pocket reference" which is considerably smaller than a standard book. The information is still complete. It appears the publisher accomplished this by eliminating blank pages between chapters, avoiding the use of large type for chapter headings, and beginning the next chapter a few lines after the previous. This format is convenient for people who need to use the reference often.

The items covered are numerous and relevant making the book a good value. The reference does not cover the SQL language itself outside the context of PL/SQL programming. It also does not go into extreme detail on how Oracle is working behind the scenes. It focuses on how to perform the task at hand then moves onto the next topic. This is good for those just looking for an answer but would not provide the detail to someone studying the inner workings of Oracle itself.

Some of the items covered that I found most useful were:

Cursors
Exception handling
Transaction management
Syntax of various loops and the case statement
Bulk operations
Packages
Procedures
Syntax of triggers
Differences between 9i and 10g
Functions

Overall this is an inexpensive, quality reference for those who program PL/SQL.

The 'Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference' is a good pocket reference for Oracle 11g but I feel that this subject matter is tough to condense in size. I feel that this isn't a niche book that really accomplishes much. I'll still give it 4 stars because it's handy but I think you would be more apt to pick up one of the bigger Oracle PL/SQL books by O'Reilly instead.

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Steven Feuerstein, Bill Pribyl and Chip Dawes' ORACLE PL/SQL LANGUAGE POCKET REFERENCE provides the fourth edition of a popular pocket guide which will serve as a quick reference in take-along tote format. PL/SQL's information covers records, functions, language elements and more, in a new edition that includes Oracle Database 11g elements from function results to compound triggers. New sections on Oracle's built-in functions rounds out the update.

Where's the index?? A REFERENCE is something you pick up to find a particular needed peice of information. Without an index you have to scan everywhere trying to find what you are looking for. What a waste of time! Dont' even waste the 10 bucks for this piece of junk...