Re: Which Oracle books to buy

"Thomas T" <T_at_T> wrote in message news:3f85b86d$1_at_rutgers.edu...
> > "Kari Laine" <kari.laine_at_dnainternet.net> wrote in message
> > news:3f843d88$1_at_news.dnainternet.net...
> > > Hi All,
> > >
> > > I am starting to learn Oracle. Administration and also programming. I
> plan
> > > to learn how to use ADO with Oracle and I think there is also an
oracle
> > way
> > > to access (CLI). Anyway I have budgeted to buy 4-5 books and now I
would
> > > like to get the best ones. I don't want the ones which practically
only
> > > duplicate the product manuals.
> > >
> > > I once read an Oracle book in which were also examples how to write
> stored
> > > procs with Java(tm). It was on Linux env. I can't recall the title
> > anymore.
> > >
> > > Please recommend.
> > >
> > > Best Regards
> > > Kari
> > >
> > >
> >
> > "Randy Harris" <randy_at_SpamFree.com> wrote in message
> news:DxYgb.11$_v.12553_at_newssvr28.news.prodigy.com...
> > Kari, I have a book that I simply can't recommend strongly enough if you
> > plan to use VB with Oracle. It has superb discussions of relational
> theory,
> > database design, Oracle architecture, SQL, PL/SQL, application interface
> and
> > comparison of ADO with other libraries. The only negative is that the
> copy
> > that I have (dog-eared and pages falling out) is a bit dated, so it
> doesn't
> > go into some of the newer features of Oracle. I don't know whether a
newer
> > edition is available or not.
> >
> > Oracle Programming with Visual Basic
> > Nick Snowden
> > Sybex
> > ISBN: 0-7821-2322-8
>
> One minor problem I have with that book idea- ADO/Oracle isn't just a VB
> thing. For that matter, ADO isn't an Oracle thing! ADO is the same
> everywhere. You'll have access to ADO command, recordset, connection, etc
> objects in any of the .NET languages- not just VB. And you can use the
ADO
> objects with any database- even text files. Don't concentrate on learning
> ADO with Oracle. Just learn ADO. I hope that makes sense- ADO works
> everywhere. If you can understand how ADO works, you'll be able to pair
it
> with any database you like. In fact, most ADO books start off with using
> Microsoft Access (ugh!) as a database. (And I'm sure you know this, but
> never use MS Access for anything remotely serious in the business world!)
> You might better be paired with a couple Oracle-specific books, and one
> ADO-intensive book. If a book talks about ADO with C#, so be it! You'll
be
> able to apply it to VB without any difficulty! ADO is ADO, anywhere it
> appears.
>
> Keep this in mind: Stay away from pre-made VB controls such as the data
> grid. Yes, the grid is fun and quick- but it's in no way useful. At the
> heart of the grid is an ADO connection object, a recordset object,
> and -maybe- a command object. Learn those three objects first. Working
> with the grid is a waste of time, and could very well be a barrier to
> learning ADO properly.
>
> My ADO collection is two books; both of which are outdated. First was
> "Programming ADO" by Microsoft. Second was "Serious ADO: Universal Data
> Access with Visual Basic" by Robert McDonald. (Amazon.com still shows it
as
> available.). They're outdated simply because ADO.NET is out; these books
> were from Visual Studio 6.0 days. While most things in ADO have stayed
the
> same into ADO.NET, you shouldn't start yourself off from 3 years ago.
Hint:
> Ebay is a good source for slightly outdated books on the cheap. I'd say
> your best bet would be to pick up an ADO.NET book by Microsoft Press at
your
> local http://www.bn.com . I'm pretty fond of the Microsoft Press books,
as
> you can tell. :) In fact, I just stumbled across this site which might
> help you: http://www.dotnetbooks.com/
>
> Like Randy said, you should have a knowledge of database design, and
Oracle
> architecture. For Oracle, look at the Oracle Press books. Pick up the
> Oracle 9i Beginner's Guide (by Michael Abbey), and the Oracle 9i DBA
> Handbook (Kevin Loney). And you Must buy "Oracle 9i: The Complete
Reference"
> by Kevin Loney! That will go further into SQL then the Beginner's Guide
> does- and you need a good knowledge of SQL to do anything with a database!
> My 7.3 Complete Reference has the most wear of any of my books; it was
what
> I used back in 1996 to learn SQL. Flip through all 3 of these at the
> bookstore; I have a feeling you might eliminate the DBA Handbook for now
> (since it goes in-depth into things that the other two books will already
> cover.) Also do a google.com search for "Oracle Myths", because not all of
> the information regarding architechture in those books (or ANY Oracle
> book!!) is true anymore- it's stuff that's been taken as fact since the
> early versions of Oracle and the earlier computer technologies. One
example
> of a famous myth is "keep your indexes and tables on separate disks". For
> PL/SQL, nothing beats the Oracle documents from http://otn.oracle.com .
>
> Although; on second thought, you said you're starting to learn
programming?
> Maybe you don't want an all-out technical book on ADO as your primary
> source. I remember a few years ago there were books at Barnes & Noble
with
> titles like "Visual Learning", meaning, they showed screen shots of every
> step. Not a technical resource by any means, but it might be helpful to a
> beginning programmer. Use google.com to search for programming website
such
> as http://www.devarticles.com/ . Also don't forget the great free
documents
> at http://msdn.microsoft.com !
>
> Here's two such parts of the MSDN resource for you.
>
> First is ADO.NET - stay current! Non-.NET ended in 2001.
>

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnanchor/html/adonetanchor.asp
> And while you stay with current technology, avoid ODBC drivers- stick with
> OLE DB Providers. Use ODBC only as a last resort.
>
> Second is data access, in general:
>

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/nhp/Default.asp?contentid=28001860&frame=true
> Avoid DAO and RDO topics; they're purely historical, and they were
horrible
> in VB4.0.
>
> Practice first with using SQL*Plus to get the information you want out of
> Oracle. Once you have your SQL query written, bring that into ADO.
>
> Good luck!
>
> -Thomas

Thomas,

You make some very good points. In my own defense, I did preface my recommendation of the book with the condition that the plan was to use VB with Oracle.

I am very surprised by one of your comments, however, and would much appreciate further clarification. Keeping indexes on a different physical disk from the tables they are built on, is a myth? I thought that was a recommended practice. Please explain.

Randy Received on Thu Oct 09 2003 - 17:58:43 CDT