Customer Reviews

Oracle PL/SQL Interactive Workbook

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I paid 2000 bucks for Oracle's classroom training, then I bought this book and guess what? This book is better! Because it also goes beyond the beginning Oracle class to cover what is in the "Program Units" class as well. As for the website, Prentice Hall changed their author url's but now they have a 'redirect' to the correct site, which happens to be (...) . Again, save your money if you have to pay for your courses yourself, this book replaces "Beginning SQL & PL/SQL", "Advanced SQL", and "Program Units". There! I just saved you (2000+1700+895)=$4595.00 plus hotel and plane fare and lost wages/vacation time!

Aunty Violet

This book is excellent for someone new to programming and/or Oracle PL/SQL. The book contains one lab after another to allow the true beginner to practice concepts. Cursors, exceptions, procedures, functions, packages and triggers are all covered. Keep in mind that this is not a reference book. To learn the topics that are covered in this book you will have to work the labs. Combining this book with a reference book will set you on the right foot. As of this writing (April 20, 2000), the website for the book ( ) was not up so I can't comment on that.

for my purposes, this book was ideal! I have a background in databases and have programed in VBA, C and normal SQL for some time. I have dabbled in PL/SQL a little bit and needed a refference book to get me going fully.

If you lack basic SQL knowledge and basic procedural programming concepts then this book won't help you very much as it assumes the reader is looking for a hands-on refference book.

one other reviewer mentioned the 'DUAL' table being introduced without explanation among other things. - 'dual' is an oracle psudo-table that you can select calculations from. e.g. "select 10 - 4 from dual" returns a column named '10 - 4' with a value of in the cell returned. anyway...

I agree with other reviewers that this book has a few errors (for example table aliases in the questions are different to those in the answers) and perhaps it could have been layed out more efficiently, but as I have said, for my purposes (quick refference book) it was Ideal.

This book is excellent for getting into PL/SQL but keep in mind you should have some knowledge of SQL first. That is the sequence for Oracle. If you want to be a Developer you study SQL first, then PL/SQL, then Forms and so forth. I took two classes on SQL first then bought this book and then signed up for a PL/SQL course at a local college. The book helped me get ahead of the class and now that I am a few weeks into the course I study and review the book and it makes much more sense that way. Also, the text for the coures is Fuerstein's PL/SQL text. That is an additional source but the overall experience has been very positive. There are some typos but if you understand the language you can weed them out.

Flip through the book at the store and you will see a good ratio of theory to examples. Most books are too heavy on theory relative to examples. It is not wordy either. The question/answer format really tests your thinking. Just remember to print the database diagram that comes with the download from the web page and study the relationships. Then you can critically examine the examples since you will fully comprehend the queries in the examples. The only thing I would like is the question/answer in electronic format to save some time typing. A great start to PL/SQL used in Oracle. The web site has an errata section for the book. Note the corrections before you start or you will be needlessly scratching your head. See www.phptr.com/Rosenzweig. Click 'begin' and 'Authors Corner' to see the errata.

This book is perfect for someone new to PL/SQL. The workbook holds your hand and walks you through PL/SQL programming, every step of the way.

With over twenty years in large scale IT development using Java/C++/C/Assembly languages on Unix/Windows 2000/NT platforms, but a neophyte with PL/SQL, I needed a PL/SQL package that would assume no background knowledge in PL/SQL, get me up to speed fast, and at the same time be comprehensive. In other words, I wanted everything. This package no only satisfied this need, but opened up new avenues of thought concerning approaches to database programming. The book is simply matchless (it should get 6 stars--an extra star for the terrific exercises that incorporate hidden pearls of IT wisdom), and yes I have perused others on the market. Ms. Silvestrova demonstrates that she is a consummate professional. The flow of the book, depth of the hands-on exercises, and scope of material is an inimitable combination. This so far may sound over-glowing, but a workman is worthy of her hire. I would recommend this package to any introductory or middle level PL/SQL student. If you desire to be a competent PL/SQL professional, look no further. If you desire to have a guide that provides you with a solid answer to specific types of PL/SQL problems, look no further. However, if you seek a slick product that spoon feeds you programming palaver (under the guise of teaching), fly you fool: you have many under-performing options available.

Overall this book is is great for someone new to programming and/or Oracle PL/SQL. The book contains one lab after another to allow the true beginner to practice concepts. This is a real lab book with plenty of exercises, It should not be thought of as a manual. It is a good book if you need practice and examples that are explained to you.

This is another awesome book by the PTR Oracle Series. First you need to read the first one, Oracle SQL by Alice Morrison, then you can read this one. This is a great book and you will learn PL/SQL efficiently, but there are a ton of grammatical errors and incorrect syntax being used in sentences which almost seems like as if nobody proof read this book haha. On page 85 Self-review question 2, it asks:
"When a COMMIT has been issued, which of the following are true? Choose all that apply.
A) All memory holds on the data have been released.
B) All data inserts are available to other users.
C) You have to get married.
D) The transaction is not finished because SQL statements are still pending.

Well in the book they have the answers as: A, B, and Yes, EVEN C. You have to get married lol I mean, if you're talking about a relationship then C is correct haha. But we're talking about comitting SQL statements. Go figure

This is a great book for someone who has accomplished SQL and is ready to move on to PL/SQL. I would have to add that it goes very slowly so it is best for someone with limited programming experience. It is clear from some of the other comments here that people have tried to work with this book without having proper SQL knowledge. Yes there are a number of typos but the the associated web page for the book is mentioned many times and the first page has all the corrections. If you don't know what the DUAL table is or you can install the schema by running a simple SQL script then you DON'T know SQL, start with an SQL book and then come back to this one.