Guide to Oracle9i (Paperback)

~ (Author), Mike Morrison (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Provides comprehensive coverage of the database applications development using the latest release of the Oracle9i Database and Developer Suite.

Product Details

• Paperback: 955 pages
• Publisher: Course Technology; 4 edition (April 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0619159596
• ISBN-13: 978-0619159597
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #638,709 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good book for Oracle 9i beginners, May 22, 2004

By	"roo_2003" (Vancouver, BC Canada) - See all my reviews

All you have to do is do all the tutorials, and the practice exercises, and you will be on your way to creating SQL scripts, oracle forms and reports. Step by step instructions and plenty of examples. Sometimes redundant, but it helps you nonetheless. Get it, if you are planning to get into Oracle.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for beginner missing information, December 6, 2005

By	J. Mueller (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have used this book for a university oracle class. It is ok, but I was quickly frustrated when I needed to create forms in Oracle Form Designer. It doesn't explain how to use the Java applet that the forms run in very well and how to manipulate it. Also there were form elements that aren't explained. I don't wish to be too negative because the authors do a good job for beginners such as myself.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but sample database design problems detract, October 19, 2005

By	JB (United States) - See all my reviews

I have used the Morrison and Morrison texts for years, and have found them useful for teaching the Developer tools. However, the sample databases have basic design problems that to me, detract from the overall quality of the book. For example:

The Student table of the Northwoods database has an interval attribute called time_enrolled. If the goal is to store the amount of time the student has been enrolled, that won't work very well because attribute's data will become obsolete the moment after it is stored. It looks like the authors wanted to work in the new Oracle data type, but misapplied it. Complicating issues is the fact that the interval data type is not supported by the 9i Developer tools, so the authors have to change the table design later in the book. Disappointingly, they change the time_enrolled field to a character string, which makes even less sense. The only accurate way to know enrollment time is to calculate it by subtracting the date of enrollment (which is what should have been stored in the table) from the current date.

Another example is the Order_Line table of the Clearwater Traders database, which does not contain an attribute to store the price the customer actually paid for the item. What happens when prices change? Of course you would lose the information of what any customer actually paid for an item. That would be a problem if you need to make a refund. Interestingly, the authors did have a price attribute in that table in an older edition of the book, but inexplicably removed it.