However excellent they are, most computer books are inherently passive--readers simply take in text without having any opportunity to react to it. The Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook is a different kind of animal! It's designed to engage you actively, to get you solving programming problems immediately, and to help you apply what you've learned about PL/SQL--and in the process deepen your knowledge of the language. By tackling the exercises in this workbook, you'll find yourself moving more rapidly along the learning curve to join the growing ranks of PL/SQL experts. The Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook is a companion to Steven Feuerstein's bestselling Oracle PL/SQL Programming and his other PL/SQL books from O'Reilly. It contains a carefully constructed set of problems and solutions that will test your language skills and help you become a better developer--both with PL/SQL and with other languages. Exercises are provided at three levels: beginner, intermediate, and expert. The workbook exercises cover all the major features of PL/SQL, including those new to Oracle8i (e.g.,
Java and Web features, autonomous transactions, and bulk binds) You'll find chapters on: Basic language elements--variables, naming, loops, conditional and sequential control, exception handling, and records. Data structures--index-by tables, nested tables, variables arrays (VARRAYs), and object technology. Database interaction--cursors, DML and transaction management, cursor variables, and native dynamic SQL Program construction--procedures, functions, blocks, packages, database triggers, and calling PL/SQL functions in SQL. Built-in functionality--the character, date, conversion, numeric, and miscellaneous functions, and the DBMS_SQL, DBMS_PIPE, DBMS_OUTPUT, UTL_FILE, and DBMS_JOB built-in packages. Miscellaneous topics--using Java with PL/SQL, external programs, PL/SQL web development, tuning PL/SQL, and PL/SQL for DBAs.
Author Biography:
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 Programming Guide to Oracle8i Features, Oracle Built-in Packages, Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages, and several pocket reference books (all from O'Reilly & Associates). Steven has been developing software since 1980 and worked for Oracle Corporation from 1987 to 1992. As Chief Technology Officer of RevealNet, Inc., he has designed several products for PL/SQL developers, including the PL/SQL Knowledge Base, PL/Vision, and PL/Generator. Steven hosts RevealNet's PL/SQL Pipeline, an online community for PL/SQL developers (http://www.revealnet.com/plsql-pipeline). When it comes to training and consulting, Steven is president of PL/Solutions (http://www.plsolutions.com). As if that weren't enough, Steven is also StarCoach (a.k.a. Chief Technology Counsel) at Starbelly.com. Home is where your home is, and Steven makes his in Rogers Park, Illinois, where he shares an over-sized Georgian with his wife, Veva, his youngest son, Eli, two cats (Sister Itsacat and Moshe Jacobawitz), and Mercury, a 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. You can reach Steven via email at feuerstein@revealnet.com, steven@starbelly.com, sfeuerstein@plsolutions.com, or sfinfo@stevenfeuerstein.com, or experience the online version of Steven at http://www.StevenFeuerstein.com. Andrew Odewahn is an Oracle application developer and consultant who lives in Davis Square in Somerville, Massachusetts. He is the author of O'Reilly's Oracle Web Applications: PL/SQL Developer's Introduction. He has a degree in computer science from the University of Alabama, where he was a fellow in the Computer-Based Honors Program. He has presented at the East Coast Oracle Developers (ECO) Conference and other Oracle events. He and his wife love the outdoors and, during the spring and summer of 1999, hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine.
