Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition [Paperback]

Steven Feuerstein (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0596003811 | ISBN-13: 978-0596003814 | Publication Date: September 30, 2002 | Edition: Third Edition

Nearly a quarter-million PL/SQL programmers--novices and experienced developers alike--have found the first and second editions of Oracle PL/SQL Programming to be indispensable references to this powerful language. Packed with examples and recommendations, this book has helped everyone, from Oracle Forms developers to database administrators, make the most of PL/SQL. This new edition is a comprehensive update of the original book, covering all versions of PL/SQL through Oracle9i Release 2. It adds much-requested new chapters on how to create and run PL/SQL programs, call Java methods from within PL/SQL, and define and use database triggers. An extensive new chapter--designed especially for experienced PL/SQL developers--describes PL/SQL's runtime architecture and how to use knowledge of Oracle internals to get the best performance from PL/SQL.

The book contains information about the latest Oracle9i PL/SQL features, including:

• Record-based DML: You can now use records in INSERT and DELETE statements.
• Table functions: These are functions that return a result set (in the form of a PL/SQL collection). Such functions existed in Oracle8i but they are now much expanded.
• New and improved datatypes: Oracle now offers dramatically improved support for timestamps, time zone management, and interval calculations. In addition, the XMLType datatype has now been implemented.
• Inheritance for object types: You can now define a hierarchy of object types (which were first introduced in Oracle8).
• Enhancements to PL/SQL collections. PL/SQL now supports multiple-level collections (nesting collections within collections), as well as associative arrays (previously called index-by tables), which allow you to index by PLS_INTEGER and VARCHAR2.
• Native compilation of PL/SQL code: PL/SQL source code can now optionally be compiled into native object code that is linked into Oracle.

The book is divided into six parts:

• Part I, Programming in PL/SQL
• Part II, PL/SQL Program Structure
• Part III, PL/SQL Program Data
• Part IV, SQL in PL/SQL


• Part V, PL/SQL Application Construction
• Part VI, Advanced PL/SQL Topics

Even if you've been a PL/SQL developer for years, you'll find an enormous amount of new and revised information in this third edition and on its companion web site. If you're new to PL/SQL, you'll find Oracle PL/SQL Programming an invaluable companion on the road to mastery.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you're doing database application development in the Oracle environment, you're going to have to know PL/SQL, the company's extended query and update language. If you want your programs to exploit the special capabilities of Oracle software, you'll need to know the language well. That's where the third edition of Oracle PL/SQL Programming comes into play. It's an absolutely comprehensive reference (as well as a rather extensive tutorial) on PL/SQL, ideally suited to answering your questions about how to perform some programming tasks and reminding you of the characteristics of functions, triggers, and other elements of the database programmer's toolkit. The new edition covers calls to Java methods from within PL/SQL programs, autonomous transactions, object type inheritance, and the new Timestamp and XMLType data types. There's also more information about server internals--the way PL/SQL programs are run--than before, better enabling readers to optimize their code for fast and safe execution.

Steven Feuerstein takes care to explain, with prose and example code, the characteristics of PL/SQL elements. In explaining number conversions, for example, he explores Oracle's different ways of formatting numbers, then details the behavior of the to_number function under different conditions (with and without a specified format model, and with National Language Support information attached). It's a helpful approach that will have readers using the index to locate places in which Feuerstein mentions language elements of interest. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to use Oracle PL/SQL in all its manifestations through Oracle9i. Fundamentals of program structure (loops, cases, exceptions, etc.) and execution get attention, as do data types, transaction management, triggers, and the object-oriented aspects of the language. There's also coverage of calls to external Java and C programs.

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.

Bill Pribyl, author, teacher, and software consultant,is the primary author of Learning Oracle PL/SQL and the coauthor of Oracle PL/SQL Programming and its companion pocket reference, all published by O'Reilly & Associates. An Oracle user since 1986, Bill has consulted on many aspects of using Oracle products. He recently spearheaded PLNet.org, a Web-based repository where developers can share open source PL/SQL.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1018 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Third Edition edition (September 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596003811
• ISBN-13: 978-0596003814
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #907,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #91 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases > Oracle

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ODTUG Review, November 5, 2002

By 

Warren Capps (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition (Paperback)

Most of us have had to learn PL/SQL at some point in our Oracle careers, and I am sure many of you have become quite expert. On the other hand, some of you may be new to this world of PL/SQL and are looking for a basic text that will educate you in the use of this language.

The "Bible" for PL/SQL programming has long been the earlier editions of this book, and Steven Feuerstein has been considered the guru of PL/SQL programming for as many years as I can remember. Steven has completely revised his best-known work into a new, third edition. I thought that it was time to take a look at this new edition and see what it has to offer both groups. Here is what I found.

Steven now provides complete coverage of PL/SQL from Oracle RDBMS version 7.3.4 through Oracle9i Release 2. He has incorporated all the information from his book PL/SQL Guide to Oracle8i New Features into this book. He has added a new chapter on database triggers and included especially useful information on DDL triggers and database event triggers. He has added new content on the PL/SQL runtime architecture, creating and running PL/SQL programs, and calling Java methods from within PL/SQL. He has integrated all the new Oracle9i features throughout the text, instead of placing them in a separate chapter.

In order to make the book fit into 1,000 pages, some of the example code was removed and can be found on O'Reilly's Web site at www.oreilly.com/catalog/oraclep3 as a zipped file. About 300 files are available. Approximately 200 pages that were pruned from the second edition that still have some utility are also available there.

The book is organized much the same way as previous editions, with a few changes. There are 23 chapters divided into six parts:

Part I: Programming in PL/SQL. These three chapters orient you to PL/SQL, its history, utility, and basic programming constructs.
Part II: PL/SQL Program Structure. Conditional, sequential, iterative control structures, and exceptions are covered in these three chapters.
Part III: PL/SQL Program Data. Six chapters cover how to manipulate data within PL/SQL procedures and functions. Strings, numbers, datatypes, including the new Oracle9i datatypes, and records and collections are also discussed.
Part IV: SQL in PL/SQL. There are three chapters that cover transactions, data retrieval, and the use of dynamic SQL.
Part V: PL/SQL Application Construction. The four chapters in this part discuss procedures and functions, packages, triggers, and managing PL/SQL applications.
Part VI: Advanced PL/SQL Topics. There are four final chapters that cover the runtime architecture, object-orientation in PL/SQL, PL/SQL and Java, and external procedure calls.

Steven states in his preface that the three objectives of this book are to
1. take full advantage of the features of PL/SQL,
2. use PL/SQL to solve your problems, and
3. write efficient, maintainable code.

Each chapter has been crafted to address these three objectives. His writing style is clear, succinct, and reads like he is sitting next to you chatting about the new things he's learned. The book is absolutely full of code examples. Most of the examples are posed as practical programming problems. He carefully walks you through the lines of example code, clearly explaining the logic used for each step of the program, and points out version-based differences. Steve is also not afraid to express an opinion and will tell you exactly why he chooses a particular method for solving a problem. Notes explaining tips and traps proliferate the book.

So, what do I think about this new edition? His book has the most comprehensive coverage of PL/SQL that I have ever seen. The code examples achieve a level of sophistication that is truly elegant. For a PL/SQL beginner, this book can be the source of all PL/SQL wisdom. Even if you have been programming with PL/SQL for a time, I think you will find the information on Oracle9i new features useful and will find many nuggets of information that can be used immediately to improve your code.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a reference, use in conjunction with oracle docs, January 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition (Paperback)

A lot of reviewers are knocking this book because it's not a comprehensive reference. While it does contain some valuable reference information, it's real value is not as a reference, but as an actual guide to using the language's features to construct useful, working code.
At this, it's excellent. For example: Need to understand how to intelligently use exception blocks? Don't look in the Oracle docs; you'll get the correct syntax, but not much else. This is true for many of the topics the book touches on.
The author does spend a lot of time on programming fundamentals, (modularization, comments, good style, etc.) but considering how precise you need to be, and the specific challenges of debugging and deploying server side PL/SQL code, a little dose of rigor can be a good thing.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Database Developer, August 17, 2004

By 

a buyer "Experienced Developer" (USA, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition (Paperback)

Im an experienced SQL Server developer.

I used this book to learn PL/SQL, while this book is
very detailed but it is HIGHLY disorganized.

It assumes you know everything. It talk about issues in

some chapter, while defines the concepts used in that issue in the future chapters!!!!

This makes this book a very "BAD" resourse for beginners.

For a 900+ pages book the number of examples are very limited!


Buy this book "only" IF you are already an expreinced Oracle
User and you need a review.

Otherwise this is not for you.


Regards.