Re: MS SQL expert needs to learn Oracle

"Thomas R. Hummel" wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have been using MS SQL Server for about 8 years now. I am about to
> begin a new position at a company that uses Oracle as well. I would like
> to quickly get up to speed on Oracle. Can anyone here point me to any
> resources (online, books, training courses) that might get me started?
>
> I don't need to learn the basics of database design or the SQL language.
> Mostly just the Oracle specific flavor of SQL, how to perform the
> various administrative tasks, different functionality in Oracle from SQL
> Server and of course and "gotchas" to look out for.
>
> For any live training courses, I am in the Philadelphia area and would
> prefer not to travel to Timbuktu for a week. (ok, I'd actually love to
> travel to Timbuktu for a week, but I don't really have the time)
>
> Thanks!
> -Tom.

Others have given you excellent recommendations so I won't repeat them. But specifically focus on those things that have become second nature to you that just don't work or don't make sense in Oracle. Here are some key phrases to keep in mind as you are looking at Oracle.

1. Don't do incremental commits (unlimited record level locks and no such thing as lock escallation)
2. No temp tables (they exist but stop using them)
3. Reads don't block writes
4. Writes don't block reads
5. Don't ever build objects (DDL) inside of stored procedures
6. Multiversioning (if you learn nothing else from Tom Kyte's book learn about this)
7. No dirty reads
8. The same words mean different things. So in Oracle the word 'schema' means the same thing as 'database' in SQL Server. And there are numerous other cases where the same word has a very different meaning. Don't be lulled into thinking you understand something because the name is the same.

Daniel Morgan Received on Thu Nov 14 2002 - 10:16:52 CST