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Re: Which Doc to Read - 10g or 9i ?

From: joel garry <joel-garry_at_home.com>
Date: 5 Jul 2006 15:08:55 -0700
Message-ID: <1152137335.776307.46450@b68g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>

Bob Jones wrote:
> >> > I put in 10053 in the tahiti search engine, and it sure didn't get
> >> > anything useful. You are just plain wrong, Bob. Put 10053 in the
> >> > knowledge browser at metalink, it ought to be obvious why a developer
> >> > serious about performance would want to know about such things.
> >>
> >> There will also be plenty of things you won't find in the books mentioned
> >> earlier. Should I go out and buy every book that is available?
> >
> > No, but some people think what books you have available in your
> > workspace and that show use are a reasonable indicator of what level of
> > work you do. I don't quite agree with that, since some people might
> > have their books at home or on electronic media or have an eidetic
> > memory or whatever. But a statement that everything you need is in the
> > manual - at best that means your work is limited, at worst you may be
> > myth-mongering.
>
> Where was the statement made?

The exact comment was: "So can I learn from the manuals. They are more than sufficient for my job. "

Well, I guess I owe an apology, "more than sufficient" is indeed different than "everything you need." I guess.

>
> >
> > Personally, I do have shelves of Oracle books. Some are crap. I tend
> > not to recommend those. Most are used infrequently, a few have little
> > nuggets that make them worth having gone through once. The ones
> > recommended in this thread are worth their weight in careers.
> >
>
> Even crap would weigh something in careers.
>
> >>
> >> What problems? Any problems?
> >
> > Well, this thread started about performance and what developers can do
> > right. Simply following the instructions in the manuals may lead to
> > problems - for example, where in the manuals does it explain possible
> > performance issues with committing in a loop? How about the optimal
> > way to perform DDL in a trigger? Where is X$KSQST explained? All
> > developers are going to have superstitions and misconceptions about the
> > best ways to do things with Oracle. Jeez, someone could write a whole
> > book about these kinds of things. Maybe even more than one. The best
> > ones demonstrate how even the most experienced developers need to
> > question and test their assumptions.
> >
>
> It sounds like your expectations of the manuals are far higher than the
> books. I hope your dream of books covering every tiny details will some day
> come true.

If the books are better - and for certain limited, but important, subjects they are - that raises the expectations. Beyond that, the manuals simply aren't written to the specificity of the books, they aren't intended to be "how to be a good developer." I don't think they should be. I think they _should_ be written to allow any arbitrary amount of detail. The books _should_ be written to show how to use such detail. In the meantime, books that show how to figure out the detail and use the knowledge to be a good developer are necessary. Some of the awful stuff that exists from before such books were available and people figured it out themselves ought to be proof enough of that. Some of the awful stuff still coming out is more proof...

By the way, I don't have anything against cookbooks or OEM style tools - as long as they aren't the be-all and end-all and their limitations are clearly established.

jg

--
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Received on Wed Jul 05 2006 - 17:08:55 CDT

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