Re: 10G New Features Book

From: Adam Donahue <adonahue_at_opsware.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2004 17:53:51 -0700
Message-ID: <408DAF1F.9000302@opsware.com>

>Expecting anybody to actually read all the docs (be they in PDF format
>or printed out using 20.000 pieces of paper or more) is absurd. No -
>none, nichts, nada, ingen - folks today can do that. Inside or outside
>the Oracle firewall... it doesn't matter. It's not humanely possible.
>
>

I don't agree with this. You can still learn the core Oracle functionality by reading through the Administrator's Guide (something every DBA should do at least once per release), and then use that as a stepping stone into other areas as necessary. Developers can start with the core PL/SQL guides. But there's quite a bit of distance between reading the entire Oracle documentation set, and doing a ctrl-F to 'learn by fragment'. The problem, I think, is that people are getting increasingly lazy. Unfortunately the best way to learn is still decidedly old fashioned: to read!

So, yes,. it's absolutely fair to "RTFM" folks!

Regarding your second point, those of us with Metalink are at a clear advantage.

I guess the best way to approach researching an Oracle issue (not including actually trying it out on a sample installation or two), is to

RTFM (yes, actually /read/ the manual!)
Google for some other viewpoints, how-tos on a particular feature
Metalink for obvious bugs, issues

If you then continue to have problems, further Google or Metalink searches typically find the solution. Or there's always oracle-l!

Adam

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Received on Mon Apr 26 2004 - 19:51:00 CDT