Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices [Paperback]

Steven Feuerstein (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0596514107 | ISBN-13: 978-0596514105 | Publication Date: October 29, 2007 | Edition: Second Edition

In this compact book, Steven Feuerstein, widely recognized as one of the world's leading experts on the Oracle PL/SQL language, distills his many years of programming, teaching, and writing about PL/SQL into a set of best practices-recommendations for developing successful applications. Covering the latest Oracle release, Oracle Database 11gR2, Feuerstein has rewritten this new edition in the style of his bestselling Oracle PL/SQL Programming. The text is organized in a problem/solution format, and chronicles the programming exploits of developers at a mythical company called My Flimsy Excuse, Inc., as they write code, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes-and each other.

This book offers practical answers to some of the hardest questions faced by PL/SQL developers, including:

• What is the best way to write the SQL logic in my application code?



• How should I write my packages so they can be leveraged by my entire team of developers?



• How can I make sure that all my team's programs handle and record errors consistently?

Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices summarizes PL/SQL best practices in nine major categories: overall PL/SQL application development; programming standards; program testing, tracing, and debugging; variables and data structures; control logic; error handling; the use of SQL in PL/SQL; building procedures, functions, packages, and triggers; and overall program performance.

This book is a concise and entertaining guide that PL/SQL developers will turn to again and again as they seek out ways to write higher quality code and more successful applications.

"This book presents ideas that make the difference between a successful project and one that never gets off the ground. It goes beyond just listing a set of rules, and provides realistic scenarios that help the reader understand where the rules come from. This book should be required reading for any team of Oracle database professionals."

--Dwayne King, President, KRIDAN Consulting

Editorial Reviews

Review

'...(the book) is a good length for a computer book ... 182 pages. Too many computer books these days have many pages and little value. ...So don't buy a copy of this book; instead, buy 12 and make everybody on your team read it - only that way will you get the full benefit of the best practice.' - James Youngman, new@UK, December 2001 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Second Edition edition (October 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596514107
• ISBN-13: 978-0596514105
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Oracle
  • #32 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Data Mining
  • #62 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > SQL

More About the Author

Steven Feuerstein is considered to be one of the world's leading experts on the Oracle PL/SQL language, having written ten books on PL/SQL, including Oracle PL/SQL Programming and Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices (all published by O'Reilly Media). Steven has been developing software since 1980, spent five years with Oracle (1987-1992), and has served as PL/SQL Evangelist for Quest Software since January 2001. He is an Oracle ACE Director and writes regularly for Oracle Magazine, which named him the PL/SQL Developer of the Year in both 2002 and 2006. He is also the first recipient of ODTUG's Lifetime Achievement Award (2009). Since 2005 he has focused his attention on improving the testing of PL/SQL programs, primarily through the creation of Quest Code Tester for Oracle, which automates PL/SQL code testing. Steven's online PL/SQL cyberhome is located at www.ToadWorld.com/SF; but you can also find out more about Steven at http://www.StevenFeuerstein.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for PL/SQL Developers, April 23, 2001

By 

Jeff Bernknopf - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices (Paperback)

You can glean some of Steven Feuerstein's insights on PL/SQL development from his other books on PL/SQL. In fact, his books were how I learned the subject and the basis for the PL/SQL guidelines that I have used within various companies for years. Here for the first time, however, Steven focuses completely on the practices that a PL/SQL developers needs to know to develop real world PL/SQL apps that are well-written and easy-to-maintain.

In the book, Steven covers the various topics that a developer needs to know. Starting from a high level view of the development process and coding styles/conventions, he drills down to the detailed technical issues of creating variables and data structures, control structures and exception handling. There is an excellent section on coding SQL statements in PL/SQL, which is one of the main reasons for writing PL/SQL to begin with. The book closes with an examination of functions, procedures and packages including several of Oracle's key built-in packages.

The best practices themselves are well-organized, concise and illustrated with specific examples. Steven provides his own insights for each best practice. As with all his books, this one is well thought out and worth twice the price!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for new or experienced PL/SQL programmers, April 1, 2002

By 

Allen Taylor (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices (Paperback)

I found this book to be an excellent (re-)introduction to good programming practices in PL/SQL. After reading the first few pages a little defensively ("I don't make those sorts of mistakes do I?") I soon realised that there was much to learn in this book as well as much that I had forgotten.

This book has lead to an instant improvement in the quality of my PL/SQL code. I particularly like the Quick Reference card in the back of the book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Handy Reference For Intermediate PL/SQL Programmers., March 15, 2003

By 

Philip R. Heath "Gadgets, Music, & Books" (DFW) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices (Paperback)

This is not a text for learning PL/SQL programming. Feuerstein's PL/SQL Programming text is much more suited for that. What you have in this book is information that the author has distilled from his other works. In a way it could be considered a summary as the title might suggest. This book is a must have for the leader of an organization that is beginning to use PL/SQL. You will find what you need for your programming standards here.

In addition to good standards suggestions, the author also gives a lot of resources that are available to PL/SQL developers. One of the prime examples is utPLSQL, a unit testing tool for stored procedures and functions. The author gives numerous other web sites and tool suggestions throughout the book.

Anyone looking to increase their PL/SQL productivity should pick up this book.