Oracle in a Nutshell [Paperback]

Rick Greenwald (Author), David C. Kreines (Author)

Book Description

Series: In a Nutshell (O'Reilly) | Publication Date: December 1, 2002

Introduced a quarter-century ago, the Oracle database remains the leading enterprise relational database management system (RDBMS) in the world. Oracle is a complex system, offering a myriad of products, languages, and tools. Frequent updates, releases, and editions complicate the ability of Oracle users to keep up with the huge amounts of frequently changing information about the database and its capabilities.

The goal of Oracle in a Nutshell is to pull together the most essential information on Oracle architecture, syntax, and user interfaces. The content and format of this book, an admirable addition to O'Reilly's respected In-a-Nutshell line, combine to boil down vital Oracle commands, language constructs, parameters, and file formats in a succinct and highly accessible desktop reference.

Oracle in a Nutshell covers the information that database administrators PL/SQL and Java developers, and system, network, and security administrators need as they manage Oracle databases and write code for these databases. It includes:

• Oracle Foundations--Overview of the Oracle architecture (memory structures and fundamental concepts), Oracle's various editions and packaging options, summary of the initialization file parameters and data dictionary views, and fundamentals of Oracle's concurrency scheme, security mechanisms (privileges, profiles, roles), and networking files (TNSNAMES.ORA, SQLNET.ORA, LISTENER.ORA, DAP.ORA, NAMES.ORA, CMAN.ORA) and options.
• Oracle Languages--Syntax summary for SQL language statements, SQL function calls PL/SQL language statements and characteristics, PL/SQL built-in package headers, and Java (JDBC and SQLJ) interfaces to the Oracle database.
• Oracle Tools--Commands provided with SQLPlus, SQLLoader, Import and Export, Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) and other backup/recovery methods, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and various performance tuning tools (Explain Plan, TKPROF, AUTOTRACE, UTLBSTAT, UTLESTAT, Statspack).
• Appendixes--Summary of Oracle datatypes, operators, expressions, conditions, numeric and date formats, and resources for additional reading.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In short this is a well-written book that provides a wealth of information in a highly condensed form." - James Robert, Cvu, August 2003

About the Author

has been active in the world of computer software for nearly two decades, including stints with Data General, Cognos, and Gupta. He is currently an analyst with Oracle Corporation. He has been a principal author of ten books and countless articles on a variety of technical topics, and has spoken at conferences and training sessions across six continents. In addition to Oracle in a Nutshell, Rick's books include Oracle Essentials: Oracle9i, Oracle8i, and Oracle8 (principal author with Robert Stackowiak and Jonathan Stern, O'Reilly & Associates, 2001), Oracle Power Objects Developer's Guide (principal author with Kasu Sista and Richard Finklestein, Oracle Press, 1995); Mastering Oracle Power Objects (principal author with Robert Hoskins, O'Reilly & Associates, 1996); Using Oracle Web Server (principal author with many others, Que Publishing, 1997); The Oracle WebDB Bible (principal author with Jim Milbery, IDG Books Worldwide, 1999); and Administering Exchange Server (principal author with Walter Glenn, Microsoft Press, 1999).

Product Details

• Paperback: 912 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596003366
• ISBN-13: 978-0596003364
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,357,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For experienced developers, October 23, 2003

By 

"[e-mail]" (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle in a Nutshell (Paperback)

I agree with another reviewer who said if you know Oracle this could be the book for you. I'm tired of digging through huge books to answer a simple syntax question. This book enables me to get concise answers quickly. But, if you're an Oracle neophyte this is NOT the book for you.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything All In One Place, February 18, 2003

By 

Beth Rice Lewis (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle in a Nutshell (Paperback)

This book is a terrific reference. I love having one place to look for all of those "simple" questions that come up -- the syntax for a particular function, how to format a column heading in SQL*Plus, what does a particular function from a package do. It comes in very handy when reading someone else's code. This book does not bog you down with lengthy explanations. It is not intended to replace training. It just pulls everything together in one place. If you're going to buy one Oracle book, this is it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive Oracle work, June 17, 2003

By 

"longhornjim" (Austin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle in a Nutshell (Paperback)

This is a huge book, and it's tough to consider it a "nutshell" (I'd hate to see the squirrel)---but it is far and away the most accurate and complete of all the Oracle mega-references out there. If you've tried to muddle through Oracle documentation, this is really a breath of fresh air.