Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good book, but with a mistaken political tone..., December 26, 1999
I have come to expect great things of Steven Feuerstein, particularly after the Oracle Supplied Packages book he wrote. I found that particular book to be a wonderful resource since I bought it. I was therefore expecting great things of Steven when I purchased his latest work, "Guide to Oracle8i Features". The content of the book appeared to be right up my alley and indeed I was not disappointed by the range of topics he covered (though I would have preferred more Java depth as others had mentioned and a few other new 8i features that I haven't seen mentioned in detail that I would think applied to PL/SQL such as temporary tables (though he does talk about temporary LOB's) ). What REALLY disappoints me about the book is that Steven seems to feel that he needs to use it as a platform for his political views. Constantly his political views are expressed in both the code samples he writes and the text associated with those examples. Obviously, I disagree with Steven on a great many of the points he tries to make (is this an odd attempt at being subliminal on his part?), regardless I would never attempt to do what he has done. Technical books are NOT a place for political commentary. So, in brief, Steve has written a good text that is clouded, heavily in my opinion, with political overtones that distract from the subject at hand. I am also surprised that O'Reilly would allow their published texts to become such a platform for political activism. Better luck next time Steve, I still have faith in your ability to write good, clean, technical text. Robert
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38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good technical content, politics are out of line, February 15, 2000
Mr. Feuerstein has consistently been the guru in the PL/SQL world, and nearly every developer I know carries dog-eared copies of his books. However, he has definitely overstepped the bounds of technical writing with his latest book, Guide to Oracle 8i Features. The technical content of this book is extremely complete and useful. The political commentary is uncalled for and offensive. At first, his use of "real world" scenarios as code examples was annoying -- and eventually it became offensive. I respect Mr. Feuerstein's personal beliefs and his right to have them; however, they are wholly inappropriate in a technical book. Using pick_nato_targets (with input parameters such as "maternity_ward_ok" and "civilian_casualties") is grossly offensive, even if someone happens to share his beliefs. The examples are distracting, and do not add anything to the text in any way. Everyone to whom I have shown this book was appalled at the examples. The technical editor in our office was horrified, and most of the other developers who have seen this book will not purchase it. None of us wish to be preached at, or be the target of condescending and offensive examples. Please let me stress that I respect Mr. Feuerstein's opinions -- but if he wants to write political opinions, he should be using a different forum, not a PL/SQL technical reference. The political content of this book is completely unprofessional, inappropriate, and embarrassing. I expect this kind of proselytizing in the editorial page of the local paper, not in a technical reference book. However, the technical content of the book is very good (as are all the Oracle texts from O'Reilly). I will probably continue to use it as a reference.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must-have for PL/SQL professionals., August 15, 2000
This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL CD Bookshelf (Paperback)
As a consultant, I depend on having the right answers available when they're needed. This compilation of books gives me an easily portable collection of seven of the best PL/SQL references available. The ebooks are collections of HTML pages, readable with any browser. The included search engine allows you to search through all the books, or a single book at a time (though not a limited subset of books) for keywords or phrases. The included "Oracle PL/SQL Programming Guide to Oracle8i Features" is an excellent book in its own right, with the typical well-written, entertaining, and informative prose that Feurstein fans are enamored with. This package is an incredible value.
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