Murach’s Oracle SQL and PL/SQL

eBook Details:

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: WOW! eBook & Associates (August 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890774502
• ISBN-13: 978-1890774509

eBook Description:

Murach’s Oracle SQL and PL/SQL

If you’re developing applications that access Oracle databases, you can save time and work by having SQL do more of the data handling for you: This new book shows you how. It teaches you how to create effective SQL queries to extract and update the data in an Oracle database. It teaches you how to design and implement a database, giving you insight into performance and security issues. It teaches you how to use PL/SQL to take advantage of powerful features like stored procedures, functions, and triggers. In short, it teaches you to create the kind of efficient database applications that make you a more effective and valuable developer.

Get started fast with Oracle SQL Developer

In chapter 1, you’ll quickly master the database concepts you have to know to handle Oracle databases effectively. Then, chapter 2 gets you started using Oracle SQL Developer. This graphical tool makes it far easier to work with an Oracle database than it is with command-line tools like SQL*Plus, so you can be more productive right from the start.

Master the SQL that you’ll use every day

Section 2 starts you off writing SQL statements that retrieve and update the data in an Oracle database. But it doesn’t stop with simple SQL statements. Instead, it also teaches you how to work with complex inner and outer joins, summary queries, subqueries, data types, and functions…all features that allow you to retrieve and update data more efficiently.

Design databases like a DBA

This isn’t a DBA book. But you may be called upon to create test tables for your applications. And to write efficient queries, you need to understand how database design decisions affect security and performance.

So section 3 shows you how to design an Oracle database. Then, it shows you how to code SQL DDL (Data Definition Language) statements to implement the design, to create views, and to manage security.

Along the way, you’ll gain insight into the issues DBAs deal with every day…a plus if you decide you want to move in that career direction.

Master PL/SQL

PL/SQL is Oracle’s procedure language that allows you to code loops, if-else structures, and error-handling structures to build more complex scripts. That, in turn, allows you to manage transactions that maintain data integrity in a database. And it allows you to create stored procedures, functions, and triggers…named blocks of PL/SQL code that are stored in the database for ready access.

Handle special-purpose data

In today’s increasingly global and digital world, you may need to handle time zones from around the world, and you may need to handle large amounts of text and binary data such as graphics, sound, and video. So section 5 shows you how to use Oracle’s data types to make these tasks easier.

“The SQL book most developers don’t even know they need”

That’s how you’re going to think of this book when you’re done with it. You’ll be delighted at how much time and work you’ll save on each database application you write, using SQL skills that you didn’t know you were missing before!

At that point, this book will become a terrific SQL reference for you to use on the job each day. Try and see for yourself.

Here are 5 of the ways that our book differs from the others

#1: You’ll see how to take advantage of the Oracle SQL Developer tool

SQL Developer is a free tool for working with database objects and SQL statements. Its graphical interface makes it more intuitive and easier to use than older command-line tools like SQL*Plus. I think you ll find it boosts your productivity as you use it to write and run queries, to work with database objects, or to debug stored procedures.

#2: You’ll start off with how to query a database, not how to design one

This book is written for application developers, and the first thing an application developer needs to know is how to write queries. So that’s what’s covered in the first 8 chapters of this book. It starts with simple queries, then moves on to complex inner and outer joins, summary queries, and subqueries that do more of the database processing so that your applications can do less.

Once you’re comfortable with querying databases, this book shows how to design a database and how to create database tables. Having this background can help you query a database more effectively. And it provides a solid introduction to DBA skills if you’re interested in that career path.

#3: You get 2 books in 1: A SQL book and a PL/SQL book

PL/SQL allows you to write complex scripts, stored procedures, functions, and triggers, all essential skills for most application developers. So along with SQL, this book covers the PL/SQL that you’ll use most of the time; there’s no need to buy a second book to learn PL/SQL.

#4: Complete applications show you how all the pieces interact

One key to mastering SQL is to have plenty of coding examples that show how the features you re learning work and what problems you may run into as you use them on your own. So this book provides dozens of SQL statements and PL/SQL scripts for various jobs that are routine in business applications. Download the examples for free from our website and use them as starting points for your own SQL routines.

#5: The paired-pages format lets you set your own pace

Depending on what you already know about Oracle SQL and how fast you want to go, you can read every page and study each example…skim through the headings for topics you don’t know…scan through the righthand pages for development details you might have missed in the past…or turn to any two-page spread when you need reference information. The paired-pages format makes it easy and fast for you to use the book the way you want to.

If you’re developing applications that access Oracle databases, why not let SQL do more of the work for you?

With the new, free, Express Edition of Oracle Database and Oracle SQL Developer (also free), you can set up the database environment you need and train yourself right on your own computer. This new book shows you how!

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