Customer Reviews

Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Third Edition

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I just finished reading this book from cover to cover. Huuhh, with 900+ pages it certainly deserves to be called a PL/SQL bible.
It's almost eight years since I purchased first edition of the Steven's PL/SQL Programming. Back then, you didn't have much of the choice, you either swallow official Oracle PL/SQL documentation (that I always found dry and tedious to read) or more likely order PL/SQL Programming from O'Reilly. The book, that was (and still is!) in the class of it's own (O'Reilly probably sold more copies of Steven's PL/SQL Programming than all other publishers of similar PL/SQL titles together).
The organization of the book is even (slightly) better compared with the first and second edition. The writing style is as good as it was in previous two editions.
What I liked the most is the fact that book covers all PL/SQL features, from Oracle 7.3 to 9.2 throughout the chapters in a way that doesn't feel like authors just "patched" previous edition of the book with some new chapters. This was the main reason that I decided that it's worthwhile to take some time and read third edition from cover to cover. The second good news is that they didn't overload the book with code examples, instead you can download all source code (printed or just mentioned in the book) from O'Reilly site.
Strictly speaking this book is not the reference manual (fortunately; what's the point to mimic Oracle reference stuff anyway)! It's true that it covers all important aspects of PL/SQL and as such you'll want to have this book at hand when coding. Of course there will always be time when you'll need to check Oracle manuals for some true reference (syntax, built-in packages...).
If your objective is not only to master PL/SQL language but also to learn how to write manageable code, then look no further. Thank you Steven!

The "Oracle PL/SQL Programming" boasts of a superb PL/SQL introduction. This all-encompassing volume has additional information, which is a welcomed improvement over the previous edition. There are new chapters on Oracle triggers, the internal architecture of PL/SQL in the Oracle database, and in the use of PL/SQL with java. The latests of both Oracle-8i and Oracle-9i were included.
This is one PL/SQL text that I will recommended for most users of the software, (whether a beginner or an expert). Its extensive coverage ensured that no stone was left unturned.

Although the book is a solid introduction to PL/SQL, the author has some serious biases related to coding style and structure that you must be extremely leery with: implicit versus explicit cursors, functions should not have side effects, plus several others. Take it all with a grain of salt, and read the books written by Jonathan Lewis and Tom Kyte, which help to dispell some of the myths that Feuerstein advocates.

This is an easy to read book. Feuerstein presents a good overview and in-depth analysis of the PL/SQL language with practical examples. He includes several examples and recommendations that make this a solid book for PL/SQL programmers. Some print errors are commons in books of this type, they are obviously a problem for a newbie, but there is no perfect book at this world. For this reason I give only 4 stars.

This book is great! Whatever I need about PL/SQL,
I found it in this book, with a detailed example,which fits
my needs exactly! It might not be suitable for beginners though,
you lose your patient reading before you learn the essential
of PL/SQL. Keep one on your desk for reference.

I was a bit wary buying yet another Steve Feuerstein Bible, with my bookshelf already groaning under the weight of all the other ones including the 2nd Edition of this book. But he's never disappointed me yet, and this book was no exception. With all the latest 9i features blended right in, rather than being in their own section, it has made development easier when looking for the definitive reference to a complete code module. I particularly like Chapter 15 on NDS statements and dynamic PL/SQL and the entire Advanced PL/SQL section covering Java, External Procedures and PL/SQL Object Orientation. It is much better balanced than the 2nd Edition, more concise, and just better all round. A fine piece of work. I just get that Oracle 9i PL/SQL job just done quicker. Anybody want to buy an old 2nd Edition? No good to me anymore.

I'm a heavy user of PL/SQL and this book has really been an excellent reference for me. I suppose it doesn't have EVERYTHING
in it, but for general everyday use it can't be beat!