Re: Self-Study CDs

Daniel Morgan <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu> wrote in message news:<1074955742.654297_at_yasure>... <snip for brevity>

> Based on your background the only thing you are going to learn is
> syntax. And syntax is the least important and challenging part of
> learning PL/SQL. As one PSOUG member said: "Syntax is boring."
>
> <snip>

> But what you have really learned? They all do the exact same thing. Do
> you know which one to use? Do you know why? Do you know how to debug
> them if you have a syntax error? Do you know how to test them in an
> application to determine which part is slow or using the most resources?
> No. And the CD won't help with that either.
>
> I'd suggest a "beginners" book for syntax, then I'd suggest Tom Kyte's
> Effective Oracle by Design first and Expert one-on-one Oracle second,
> followed by a lot of time at http://tahiti.oracle.com. It will save you
> money and you will learn much more. Not as much as at a good college or
> university program but far more than with any CD set.

As a beginner's book for syntax, would "Guide to Oracle9i by Joline Morrison, Mike Morrison ISBN: 0-619-15959-6 © 2003 Publish date: March 14, 2003" at www.course.com work?

In fact, I have used "A Guide to Oracle 8" (0-619-00027-9) by the same authors from the same publisher and learned up to Chapter 4B back in the year 2000 (I haven't touched this book since then and was busy with courses to graduate), where Chapter 4 is Introduction to PL/SQL, Triggers, and Procedures Builder with

         4A covers Variables and Data Types; 
         4B is  "Using SQL Commands in PL/SQL Programs".
         4C is "Procedures and Functions in PL/SQL" 

I compared the Chapter Titles of 9i book (www.course.com) and 8 (I have) and noticed that the title were eaxctly the same up to Chapter 3. In the new book, chapter 4 is simply "Intro to Pl/SQL". The rest of chapter titles differs completely.

Is Oracle 8 and 9i so different that I should just get the new book and throw away the old one? I do like the style of this book. The style is good for self teaching.

Thanks. Received on Sat Jan 24 2004 - 16:17:01 CST