Re: tools for PL/SQL development

Mark C. Stock schrieb im Artikel <3PadnflYsqGZoqvdRVn-sw_at_comcast.com>:
>
> "Andrew Hardy" <junkmail@[127.0.0.1]> wrote in message
> news:c158a0$hh8$1_at_sun-cc204.lut.ac.uk...
>| Karsten Schmidt wrote:
- snip -
>
> similar things were said about the steam engine...
>
> the advise to stick with SQL*Plus until you know what you're doing is good
> for only about the first 10 minutes of your Oracle career
>
> yes, you need to know how SQL*Plus works, and you need to understand the
> what the SQL is doing, but where is the advantage to using vi/notepad and
> SHOW ERRORS rather than an honest-to-goodness programmer's editor that
> highlights keywords and syntax (so you can easily see where you forgot to
> terminate a string) and highlights the error locations?
>
> learning SQL and using a GUI tool are not mutually exclusive, and there is
> no inherent virtue in vi -- i think the point that should be made is do not
> rely on a gui to generate SQL that you don't understand, but by all means,
> use the tools that make your life simpler, but use them responsibly
>
> ;-{ mcs
>
>

Hi!

Sometimes I find it annoying that people think they need the newest, greatest GUI software for development. If you are used to it the unix toolchest and SQL*Plus make a pretty good environment. Various vi descendents have pl/sql syntax highlighting (Emacs too, of course) and once you're past the initial learning curve no GUI tool can give you the power and flexibility of unix scripting. Meta scripts can get you pretty far in SQL*Plus, too. Of course it's a matter of what you're used to and people will get productive much earlier if they use a GUI tool. But in the end the whole discussion about tools is not that relevant. I think one should pick the flavour one likes best (it's the tools from stone age for me - so what?) and get the job done using sound software engineering practices.

My 2c,
Chris Received on Fri Feb 20 2004 - 13:30:46 CST