Synopsis
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 toindex 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 TopicsEven 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.
About the Author
Steven Feuerstein is considered one of the world's leading experts on the Oracle PL/SQL language. He is also the author of the sequel to Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages (O'Reilly & Associates, 1996), and Oracle Built-in Packages (O'Reilly & Associates, 1998). Steven has been developing software since 1980 and worked for Oracle Corporation from 1987 to 1992. He is a partner with RevealNet, Inc. (www.revealnet.com) and is the chief architect of the RevealNet products, PL/SQL Knowledge Base and PL/Vision (a code library of prebuilt PL/SQL packages that accelerates PL/SQL-based application development). Steven also sysops RevealNet's "PL/SQL Pipeline," an online community for PL/SQL developers (www.revealnet.com/plsql-pipeline). He can be reached through email at feuerstein@revealnet.com. Steven is also president of PL/Solutions, which offers training and consulting on both PL/Vision and PL/SQL (www.plsolutions.com). Finally (on the Oracle side of Steven's life), he serves as codirector of the Oracle Practice at SSC, a systems management consulting firm based in Chicago (www.saraswati.com). Steven shares his Rogers Park, Chicago, Georgian with his wife Veva, his youngest son Eli, two cats (Sister Itsacat and Moshe Jacobawitz), and Mercury (the Congo Red African Gray parrot). His older son, Chris, is busy making music and creating art nearby. Steven is a member of the Board of Directors of the Crossroads Fund, which provides grants to organizations in Chicago working for social change. Bill Pribyl, author, teacher, and software consultant, is coauthor of the best-selling Oracle PL/SQL Programming and its companion pocket reference, both published by O'Reilly & Associates. An Oracle user for 15 years, 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. At home in Houston, Bill volunteers with a Christian organization teaching computer skills to low-income clients, and he says his next project will be persuading fellow database technologists to contemplate the ethical and moral implications of all their work. Visit Bill at www.datacraft.com.
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