RE: Oracle Book Mal-practice...

It is one thing to make a mistake and another to write something without giving proper thought to related facts which could impact someone following the information given. Mistakes and oversights are possible. To constitute mal-practice I think the author would have to include material he or she knew was wrong or that put an inexperienced user at risk for a purpose such as meeting a publication requirement. That is a reason like there has to be a chapter on such and such.

• Mark D Powell -- Phone (313) 592-5148

-----Original Message-----

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Robert Freeman Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 9:11 PM
To: Oracle-L Freelists
Subject: Oracle Book Mal-practice...

So, I'm reading a particular book tonight. I don't want to say which one it is at the moment because I know one of the authors and I want to make sure that this author did not write this chapter.

My question is, what constitutes Oracle Book Writing mal-practice (and I pray I've never committed it). Certainly mistakes crop up in books all the time, I'm as guilty as any writer of this. This chapter I'm reading though, in an effort to get the reader to doing something quickly, does not lay any foundation, skips critical steps and actually prompts them to do what I consider some very dangerous things.

It would be one thing if the book said, "Look, this is not the way you should do this in production." but it does not. In this chapter, a very junior DBA might well follow the instructions and, having successfully completed everything, think that they are done. The truth, a nasty truth, is that all they have done is taken some very big risks and they have some nasty gottya's coming down the pike.

In my mind, this isn't a simple mistake. This isn't an editorial mis-step. This is someone trying to make something seem easy and leaving out some very sailient instructions without any warning.

Very bothersome.... For your Junior DBA's all I can say is buyer beware. Get yourself a good mentor to go with all these books.

Cheers all and buyer beware...

RF

 Robert G. Freeman
Oracle ACE
Author:
OCP: Oracle Database 11g Administrator Certified Professional Study Guide (Sybex) Oracle Database 11g New Features (Oracle Press) Portable DBA: Oracle (Oracle Press) Oracle Database 10g New Features (Oracle Press) Oracle9i RMAN Backup and Recovery (Oracle Press) Oracle9i New Features (Oracle Press) Other various titles out of print now... Blog: http://robertgfreeman.blogspot.com The LDS Church is looking for DBA's. You do have to be a Church member in good standing. A lot of kind people write me, concerned I may be breaking the law by saying you have to be a Church member. It's legal I promise! :-) http://pages.sssnet.com/messndal/church/parachurch.pdf
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http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l Received on Thu May 28 2009 - 13:58:49 CDT