Re: Oracle Books

In article <arroo99-0308992121210001_at_ts48l36.pathcom.com>,   arroo99_at_yahoo.com (Ann) wrote:
> I am thinking of learning Oracle on my own.
>
> Are there any good Oracle books that teach how to program with Oracle?
> (for beginners)

Ann,

Before I start, let me say that my assumption is that you're a relational db novice.

I agree with some of the posts here in that "learning Oracle" per se, can be a daunting task. I had no idea that the scope of Oracle products was so vast. With that said, someone once said that the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at time (please, no spam if I misquoted).

I would learn the basic concepts of a relational database FIRST (the WHY of databases), before trying to understand Oracle(one HOW of databases). Once you understand the concepts such as the differences between entities and tables, attributes and columns, etc., then transferring that understanding to Oracle technologies will be much simpler.

So, I would start with a web search on relational database concepts and see where that takes you. My guess is that you may be able to get a good start without buying anything (I love that about the Internet). Then when that well runs dry, check out Fatbrain.com, bookpool.com, etc. for a basic SQL book. I won't mention a particular book because, to me, SQL is SQL. Once you learn it, the knowledge transfers easily.

I know that obfuscates the question, but I think that maybe a step back to the broader conceptual level is in order before jumping directly into Oracle.

>
> What tools would I need to use to program in Oracle?
>

Any text editor will allow you to create DDL scripts to run in a SQL*Plus session. However, there are more sophisticated editors such as PLEdit, PLSEdit,and SQL*Navigator. PLEdit is shareware which can be downloaded from www.benthicsoftware.com. That's the editor I use.
> Ann
>

That's the end of my proselytising. Hope it helps.

--
Michael Stelly
m_stelly_at_my-deja.com


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