Re: tools for PL/SQL development

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 10:31:33 -0800, in comp.databases.oracle.server, Daniel Morgan <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu> scribbled:

>The advantages are substantial. I tried letting my students use TOAD,
>SQL*Navigator, etc. little learning takes place. They don't learn to
>use their brains and their eyes. They expect the GUI to do it for them.
>And it does if you are talking about syntactic errors but those are the
>easy errors. If you are still making syntax errors after your first
>few months you need to consider a career change. Yes we all make typos
>but even SHOW ERROR catches those.
>
>The far larger issue is logic errors and those can not be caught with
>any tool and require training the human brain. Something I have not
>observed when people rely on GUIs.

Mr. Morgan,

I've been lurking around in this and the other Oracle groups for quite a while now, looking for help (and usually finding it by reading as much as I can) and just trying to learn from the threads here.

I have to agree with you that you have to know what you're doing with the code before you should go on to GUI programming. I am primarily a programmer, but I am also trying to learn Oracle since I have been put in charge of a small Oracle database. But being in charge of this database, so far, has meant more of making sure it's backed up and that it is running at all times; I do NOT want to mess it up.

We have a test machine that has a backup of the production database running on it, and I use this to test everything I do. My question to you is what you recommend as a PL/SQL learning tool(s). I looked at the link in your .sig and saw that your school has online learning, but it doesn't look like the school offers the courses you teach online. But what you talk about here is what I'd be interested in.

The reason I ask this is because I'd like to move the functionalities of the various programs I have written into Oracle, as well as implementing new programs that I have in mind. We have a damn good database, it is meant to be used in certain ways which aren't being used, and I want to do this.

We have 8i, 8.1.5, running on Win2k Pro. I know that's very old, but I don't have authorization to upgrade and the customer is not going to allow it. So I have to work with that. I also have just gotten Expert One-on-One and Efficient Oracle By Design, and am reading the Concepts documentation on otn's website. I believe I need a book for learning PL/SQL, and my company has agreed to purchase a CD from Oracle, INTRODUCTION TO ORACLE8I: SQL AND PL/SQL SELF-STUDY CD COURSE. What do you think of this so far? How would you recommend I supplement this, or even go about attacking it, assuming I finish reading Concepts first?

Thanks very much for your help.

-- 
Teresa Redmond
Programmer/Analyst III
Anteon Corporation
tredmond at anteon dot com