Re: two questions from a newbie

Not at all! Richard set you right with his remark, "everyone has got to learn programming from some point." I'd say that Oracle is neither the hardest nor easiest place to start learning programming skills, although the learning curve may be a little steeper than for some languages & tools because it involves learning relational database concepts in parallel with programming concepts. However, this adds to the fun factor IMO. Plus, you have the choice of a traditional 3rd generation language in PL/SQL which belongs in the same cave as Pascal, Visual Basic etc., an object-oriented language in Java and a non-procedural language for manipulating data sets in SQL.

Best of all, you can download all the necessary Oracle software for free from technet.oracle.com, or order it from the Oracle store for a media fee (US$40 or thereabouts).

As a former Oracle instructor I opine that a paid class can be extremely effective if you go in 'warm', having encountered and wrestled with the concepts on your own. You will be bursting with questions. However, if you go in cold the value for money drops sharply, as you will be spending your energy on 'getting' the basic concepts and missing out on a lot of the added value that a good instructor can provide. So, start with a good book and some homework before letting the moths out of your wallet.

Martin

robot scythes wrote:

>Thanks for the info., Richard.
>
>I should have worded that #2 question better:
>
>If someone has NO programming experience (no C++, Perl, Java) and NO
>database experience at all, would attempting to tackle SQL and Oracle be a
>bad adventure
>because of their ignorance, or can those handicaps be overcome with the
>desire to learn and overcome?
>
>Also, would taking formal classes in Oracle be wasted time-- would the
>person with no experience be "wandering around in the dark" the whole time,
>or could he/she once again overcome that lack of knowledge?
>It would be way scary to pay for many hours of classroom training in Oracle
>just to "discover" you can't
>handle the nature of the material, or that you are totally bored with it.
>
>
>"Richard Foote" <richard.foote_at_bigpond.com> wrote in message
>news:qCOx9.69804$g9.197737_at_newsfeeds.bigpond.com...
>
>
>>Hi Robot,
>>
>>"robot scythes" <stayfrosty_at_somewhere.com> wrote in message
>>news:35Ox9.4$SY3.418_at_bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>>
>>
>>>1. Is there an FAQ for this group, or Oracle in general?
>>>
>>>
>>Yes. Check out Jonathon Lewis's site:
>>
>>http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/faq/ind_faq.html
>>
>>Also, the google archives is a good place to look for topics of interest.
>>
>>
>>
>>>2. Is it necessary to have programming experience before
>>> getting into Oracle?
>>>
>>>
>>Depends what you mean by getting into Oracle. If you mean from a
>>
>>
>programming
>
>
>>perspective then not necessarily as everyone has got to learn programming
>>from some point. If you mean from a DBA perspective then Oracle
>>
>>
>programming
>
>
>>experience is just short of being essential although there are always
>>exceptions to every rule.
>>
>>What you really need to get into Oracle is a bit of enthusiasm, a bit of
>>patience and a whole lot of learning.
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>>Richard
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
Received on Tue Nov 05 2002 - 16:29:31 CST