Re: Is oracle easier than C++ programming?

Hi Carolyn,
I present Oracle and C++ courses for my employer (itacs, here in Scotland). Both skills are in demand here in the UK, and I guess that it depends which path you prefer to take. Though there always are religious zealots that will argue whether Java is better than C++ etc, you have to be aware that PL/SQL programming is always (IMHO) slanted towards the needs of the database community whereas C++ is a general programming language applicable in many more areas than databases. I admit that I may be biased, but I see a rosy future for C++. At the start of my C++ course I show a slide which states that the average salary for C++ programmers here in the UK is 70,000 pounds per annum (roughly $1.60 per pound == $112,000) My cynicism thinks that all you need to succeed in life is to invent an obscure language and make it popular (just!) so that all the workers have to be highly-skilled in the quirks of the language! :-)

I think that on the "intellectual" scale I see C++ programming needing SLIGHTLY more skill than PL/SQL programming. There are more quirks to C++ than PL/SQL, but PL/SQL suffers from the early popularity of Oracle and hence there are sufficiently-different syntaxes between SQL, PL/SQL and SQLPlus never mind the other tools! (Example: varchar2's are different widths in different tools; Procedure Builder's declare statement has the TYPE then the NAME where other places are NAME then TYPE etc etc). This can make life confusing in Oracle when you flit between SQL commands and PL/SQL code. I guess that the more you program in Oracle the more you get used to it (flame suit on :-) so I'm sure that others will berate me for this opinion! I'm not saying C++ is better (remember to use [] with delete when you delete something acquired via new[]; check for self-assignment in a copy constructor; make sure copy constructors have reference arguments etc)

Kinda still favour C++, but that's my bias.

HTH Mungo Henning

Carolyn Levin wrote:

> I'm trying to decide what type of programming skills to learn. I want to
> make a career change and my background is structural engineering.
>
> I'm wondering if it is as intellectually difficult to be a data-base
> programmer as opposed to programming an object oriented language like C++
> or java.
>
> I'm also wondering if there are more entry-level opportunities in oracle
> programming as oppsed to C++ programming.
>
> Responses would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Carolyn

--
Mungo Henning - it's a daft name but it goes with the face...
mungoh_at_itacs.strath.ac.uk.http://www.itacs.strath.ac.uk/
(since everyone else does it) I speak for me, not my employer.