Oracle SQL Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach [Paperback]

Grant Allen (Author), Bob Bryla (Author), Darl Kuhn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1430225092 | ISBN-13: 978-1430225096 | Publication Date: November 20, 2009 | Edition: 1

Oracle SQL Recipes is a strong play into the market for SQL books, and in particular for Oracle SQL books. Edited by the same person as the SQL Cookbook (14,992 units lifetime) and Mastering Oracle SQL (12,186 units across both editions), Oracle SQL Recipes combines the problem/solution approach of the Cookbook with the Oracle focus of the Mastering book. The result is a solid, solution-oriented book with no direct competition that is sure to get noticed by a large audience of Oracle developers and database administrators.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Grant Allen has worked in the IT field for nearly 20 years, specializing in relational database management systems from a variety of vendors. For the past decade, he has worked in the Asia–Pacific region and Europe as a principal database consultant and enterprise architect for several organizations, and he now works in the database field for Google. Grant is the author of Beginning DB2: From Novice To Professional., and in his spare time is completing a PhD.

Bob Bryla is an Oracle 8, 8i, 9, and 10g Certified Professional with more than 15 years of experience in database design, database application development, training, and Oracle database administration. He is the primary internet database designer and an Oracle DBA at Lands' End in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Bob works with PHP and Oracle on a daily basis to support the back end of the world's #1 clothing web site, landsend.com.

Darl Kuhn is currently a DBA with Sun Microsystems. He has coauthored three books: Linux Recipes for Oracle DBAs, RMAN Recipes for Oracle Database 11g: A Problem-Solution Approach and Oracle RMAN Pocket Reference. He also teaches advanced database courses at Regis University. Darl performs volunteer database administration work for the Rocky Mountain Oracle Users Group. He has a graduate degree from Colorado State University and currently lives near Spanish Peaks, Colorado with his wife Heidi and daughters Lisa and Brandi.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (November 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430225092
• ISBN-13: 978-1430225096
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Review: Oracle SQL Recipes - A Problem Solution Approach, January 22, 2010

By 

Brian Hurley "Brian Hurley" (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oracle SQL Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Paperback)

Book Review: Oracle SQL Recipes - A Problem Solution Approach
Author: Grant Allen, Bob Bryla, Darl Kuhn
Publisher: Apress Inc
ISBN: 978-1-4302-2509-6

I haven't been reviewing Oracle SQL books since for the last several years my primary focus has been in the Java realm. However, I still love working directly with databases especially Oracle so I was looking forward to when this book was release and I had high hopes. Luckily the book delivers in fact I wish that I had a book just like this when I started to work with Oracle 12 years ago. It would have made the learning curve much smaller.

As most books about any technical subject they start out with the simple and head toward the more advanced. This book uses the same approach so if you're already knowledgeable about SQL you can probably skip the first 2-3 chapters. From there the book ramps up the complexity. This is where SQL starts to get really fun. The book covers many aspects of SQL programming that I have encountered over the years. Validating data between tables, dealing with NULLs, manipulating data in and between types, REGEX are just part of what this book covers. In fact I was working today and ran across a problem where I was developing new Java loaders for some large data sets. I need to compare both tables that are located on different databases to make sure that my code is working the same as the old code. I remembered a section from the book (3-9) that shows how to compare two tables and find the differences quickly. This allowed me to implement a check on several tables in just a few minutes. Otherwise I was going to write a Java program to check and compare the data in the objects which would have taken hours to write. This is a good reminder that we should all use the right tool for the job and in many cases dealing with data using SQL is much simpler than other approaches.

I'm not saying that this book has everything that you would ever need in a SQL book but it's a great place to start. I would highly recommend this book to add to your library of must have SQL books along with about anything from Joe Celko.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical Guide, August 9, 2011

By 

Zoli - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Oracle SQL Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Paperback)

Very good practical guide which will walk you through examples from real life. Very helpful and easy to apply solutions sorted into logical structure. I would recommend it to professionals who dont want to loose time by reading reference guides and who dont want to spend time trying to find good solutions on internet.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource!, March 26, 2011

By 

I-Like-Movies - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oracle SQL Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Paperback)

I have been writing a lot of queries at work lately, and this book has been very helpful. It covers a lot of common query patterns that spring up in dealing with relational data in an Oracle environment. I started by writing things that worked but were so hideous and unnecessary and upsetting, and wondered if there would be simpler, shorter, easier ways. Then I found the answers in this book.

It is as clearly, concisely, and coherently written as the C Programming Language by Kernighan + Ritchie. This is how technical books should be written.