Re: Tom Kyte a false idol?

pharfromhome_at_hotmail.com (Geomancer) wrote in message news:<cf90fb89.0309151045.311a5f21_at_posting.google.com>...
> > I am a co-worker of Tom's and have been asked several times by Tom to
> > respond to questions on AskTom where I might be in a position to
> > provide a better answer. Tom does this from time to time as he works
> > with a number of people who are considered "experts" on certain topics
> > which, to the benefit of his readers, Tom chooses to leverage. The
> > important point here is that Tom gives credit where it is due and
> > clearly states that he is not answering the question, as evidenced by:
>
>
> Well, I stand corrected.

Tom is a demi-god, at least!

>
> Tom Kyte must be am amazing fellow to crank-out such huge volumes of
> high-quality work. Not many folks who can do the work of 10 men.

I think if you go back and look at his earliest cdo posts (circa '95), you'll see someone who worked for Oracle Government, and worked very hard at learning all the rules and at applying them, then patiently explaining them to people. Now repeat and enhance for another 8 years and it doesn't seem all that amazing anymore. But laudable, nonetheless. What's amazing is he hasn't burned out.

>
> Having seen the Oracle marketing hyperbole, I supposed I have a
> preconceived suspicion about Oracle-Corporation-related experts, but
> it appears that Tom Kyte is worthy of adulation.

That is a reasonable suspicion. Oracle does have high entry-level requirements for their people, but that doesn't rule out self-serving "white papers" and such, nor does it rule out overly-specific advice coming from people who are amazed they can get something to work at all. Tom _is_ worthy of adulation. Just don't kiss his feet, they are probably clay.

I agree with the previous post about him having too much of a developer viewpoint, but that's ok too. That's what he does.

>
> I guess I'll hop over to Amazon and try a copy.

jg

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