1 comments about Expert Oracle PL/SQL (Osborne Oracle Press Series).

1. Note the word Expert in the title of this book. This is not where you would turn to learn how to write a simple SELECT statement. This book presumes that you have a basic fundamental knowledge of how Oracle and SQL work together. The emphasis here is on the lessor used features, the newest additions to 10g Release 2, in short the information beyond what the basic programmer knowledge that helps to define the expert.
   
   In addition to the standard programming tips, this book goes beyond the basics to look at what the database itself is doing. With more knowledge here, you can better understand what the database itself is doing when it is working on your SQL statements.
   
   Although virtually all databases now use SQL as their basic programming language, each of the big database programs has additions or differences that make that particular version of SQL just a bit different from others. In this book, the authors concentrate on those special features as implemented by Oracle.

5 comments about The Nudist on the Late Shift: And Other True Tales of Silicon Valley.

1. This book is riveting. I'd never heard of Po Bronson and knew little about the Silicon Valley .com era when I picked it up. Bronson's ability to build portrait after portrait of the individuals behind the .com era make this a page-turner. In the end, I'm not sure there's any other way to tell this story, but as the sum of its parts.



2. I first read this book a month before my first visit to the Silicon Valley in 1999 to meet my Angel investor - another concept native to the area. I re-read this now after 7 years of living the Silicon Valley life. There is no doubt that Po Bronson is the best messenger that the Valley has. Whether you are an insider or an outsider, if you ever sat back and wondered "what the heck is the Silicon Valley", Bronson is your go-to guy. In an earlier review of a book by the same author, I likened Bronson's First $20 Million... about Silicon Valley to Michael Lewis' Liar's Poker about Wall Street. Being a collection of true stories, Nudist on the Late Shift is a more appropriate comparison.
   
   The New New Thing by Michael Lewis lacked the novelty to quench the thirst of the Silicon Valley insider. The focus on Jim Clark's story, that too written after his 3rd billion dollar IPO, made it larger than life and failed to capture the essence of the Valley culture. The Nudist on the Late Shift covers the dozen people who are likely to be sitting around you at a Starbucks in Santa Clara on a warm and sunny day. It is a good balance of the haves-and-the-have-nots, the ones who made it and those who did not, yet all the ones that make Silicon Valley unique and not any that do not.
   
   Even as a journalist for Wired, WSJ, NYT Magazine and Forbes ASAP, Bronson has always been able to look under the rugs and beyond the obvious in a manner that manifests originality, besides a deep understanding of and keen interest in the subject. Being a San Francisco resident and a Stanford grad, he has all the pre-requisites that one needs in order to write about this subject. Like every bard who loves to tell stories about his favorite thing, Bronson engages the reader with his edgy, cynical, witty and optimistic style.
   
   Many of the books written about Silicon Valley in the hey-days of 1998-99 are largely obsolete now. This book suffers from the fever pitch of those days, and does not reconcile with the current environment. Yet, the essence of what Bronson has captured has stood the test of time. In a way, it is fortunate that he did so during the boom when that party was on steroids and the characteristics were magnified. The bucketing of stories and individuals into Newcomers, IPO, Entrepreneur, Programmers, Salespeople, Futurist and Dropout is a smart one. A good encapsulation of this place we know and love.



3. Having lived through the tech bubble as a techie, but not ever spent time in the valley, the book was a good perspective on the heart of the tech culture.
   
   My major issue with the book is that although extremely interesting and well themed, the stories are not fundamentally weaved together tightly with the theme. Bronson started strong out of the gate. The first few chapters were humorous, funny and extremely fascinating, but the stories did not maintain their grasp on my attention as the book progressed.
   
   If you are looking to understand the oddities of the tech culture that produced the technologies now ubiquitous in our culture: yahoo, netscape, even google... this is a fascinating read. If you're that not particularly intrigued by the valley, this is probably still interesting, but not worth wading through.



4. A series of stories from the valley in the mid 90's by journalist who was there. My title pretty much sums it up. Very enjoyable reading.



5. This book was poorly written. There was no real plot, just one crazy story after another.
   
   
   What a complete waste of time. When I was finished with the book, I left it on the train I was taking. I didn't want anything to do with it.

4 comments about Learning SQL: A Step-By-Step Guide Using Oracle.

1. Despite the pile Oracle Certified Professional training material I received in class and the OCP certification books on SQL, there were aspects that I didn't fully understand until I read this excellent book.

   Part I contains the absolute basics, all of which are as applicable to IT professionals and business users. The first three chapters are standard fare in most books of this sort - getting started and the basic commands (SELECT, CREATE, etc.). It's in Chapters 3-9 where the clarity of the author's writing pays off. These chapters cover Cartesian products, joins and aliases; set operations; grouping and sub queries. These are not easy to grasp by beginners, but the book clearly explains each, and also goes into details such as the differences between a join and sub queries, sub query correlation and similar topics.

   Part II of the book covers more advanced tasks that are more suited to DBAs., with some material that will interest advanced business users and IT business systems analysts. For the DBA only are chapters on creating tables and using Oracle's SQL*Loader, triggers and PL/SQL (although some advanced business users employ PL/SQL it's rare, and the focus in the chapter on the subject is more in line with DBA uses). For all readers the chapter titled "Multiple Commands, START Files, and Reports" contains highly useful information, especially on how to do crude branching with the DECODE statement. The four appendices are also valuable references, and cover using Oracle in the UNIX environment, data dictionaries, the student database and associated tables, and improvements that Oracle made to 8i and 9i.

   If you're pursuing your OCP certification and find that the class materials are too terse, or that the books are more focused on getting you through the exam instead of teaching you how to use SQL, get this book. For business users, IT business systems analysts and others who need to write and execute queries against an Oracle database and need a solid introduction to SQL this book will meet their needs.




2. This is a really good for a beginner to learn SQL using Oracle. The authors have very clearly explained the complicated terms and concepts, in a fashion we are used to learn in class rooms.

   It can also be used as a reference book or as a quick refresher course for someone who have not used SQL in a few years or so.

   I strongly recommend this book to everyone interested to learn SQL using Oracle.




3. I bought this book to refresh my knowledge of SQL, especially the new stuff that has been added in the past few years, such as GROUP BY ROLLUP. THIS BOOK DOES NOT COVER RECENT CHANGES TO SQL FOR ORACLE.



4. Yes, this book is outdated. But, given its stated mission, that's really not a problem. From page xv in the Preface, under the Audience and Coverage section:
   
   "Overall, although this book does not discuss advanced features such as performance tuning issues or advanced PL/SQL, it is ideal for a beginning Oracle user to get an overview of what SQL and Oracle entails. The book gives a very good "feel" for what Oracle is and the many ways Oracle can be used. It certainly can be considered a starting point for what Oracle has to offer."
   
   I was very impressed with how the authors wrote to this goal. The book starts from the premise that the reader has barely heard the word "database" and works up from there. It was really designed to be used in conjunction with an actual database theory course. So, the assumed level of knowledge seems to creep up a bit as the book progresses. But, even so, anyone even vaguely familiar with database theory should have no problem reading this book. It's very well done.
   
   But, you wonder, why do I only give it an OK rating of 3 stars out of 5? Because the authors do one unforgivable thing: they teach new material in the Exercises. Exercises are supposed to measure how well people have learned the material taught in the book. They're not for teaching new material. If it hadn't been for that, I'd have given the book a Very Good 4 stars out of 5 rating. Still, if you don't really need the theory behind a database and just need to get by with a bit of SQL under Oracle, I do recommend this book.

5 comments about Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer.

1. If innovation is in any way your concern read this. It memorializes fluently almost all the things a management can do to kill creativity.



2. This book tells the fascinating story of the invention of the first distributed personal computer systems at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), and how a copier company that had grown to over $1 billion in revenue in less than 10 years based on a single new technology (photocopying) was unable to capitalize on a new technology again, despite the best intentions of its leaders.

   The really innovative work at PARC was done under the direction of Bob Taylor. When Taylor was forced out, he started DEC's Systems Research Center (SRC) (later acquired by Compaq, and then HP), and he brought much of the top talent along with him.

   I read this book on Bob Taylor's recommendation when I first joined DEC SRC as a researcher. But I decided to read it again recently before attending a talk by George Pake, the founding director of PARC. Pake's history of PARC agreed with the book, but he drew very different conclusions about the overall benefit of PARC's inventions to Xerox. In particular, Pake gave far more credit to PARC for contributing to Xerox, but all the examples he gave related to how computer technology has come to be used in photocopiers, which entirely misses the point. As the book's subtitle suggests, most of PARC's astounding computer innovations were largely squandered by Xerox (and "borrowed" by Steve Jobs to create the Apple Macintosh).

   The first time I read the book, I was fresh out of school and didn't have much experience in the business world, so the parts of the book dealing with business issues were mostly a mystery to me. This time, it made much more sense, and I actually found the business aspects of the story more intriguing than the technical ones. Even so, the story of the first bit-mapped display, laser printer, ethernet, personal computer, and WYSIWYG editing software -- innovations we take largely for granted today -- is quite interesting!




3. I lived through these years on the 10th Floor at Xerox Corporation Systems Headquarters, El Segundo, California - as a Systems Administrator for New Product Development and Training. The book is accurate, but misses one very, very important point: The "Leadership" at Xerox Corporation at this time did not, repeat not, have the "best intentions". On the contrary, they were "Box People" (copier people) who did not have a clue about how to take advantage of this technology. In 1984 we did an internal survey of middle and upper management regarding use of the applications for the Star/Distributed Net (specifically email and Viewpoint software applications for those of you "in the know"). It found that while 76-percent of first and second level management used these applications on a daily or multiple-weekly basis, less than 10-percent of upper and executive management did so (the figure was under 5-percent on returns from Rochester and Stamford). Is this evidence of knowledge or having the "best intentions"? Those of us who did have the knowledge of the potential benefits were in middle management and could see those benefits to our own organisations at that time. We reported on these benefits, talked about them, begged people to come and see for themselves...for years...nothing happened. Many of us grew so frustrated we left (I was one, in 1989), although we still loved (and love) our exciting times at "Brand X". Some stayed, and watched Xerox "retreat" back to a primarily copier/printer company (and in doing so it crushed many a spirit). Most of us have wonderful, amazing, funny and frustrating stories to tell about those times (how about two trips in a single day to PARC from El Segundo just prior to the release of the 6085PCS?...or when the training Manager for New Produce Development left...only to turn up at Apple the following month...with all his notes and records?...Or producing training films for new releases with comedy sketches on the tail end for raising salespersons morale...). This book is too high level stuff for that...but it does reflect the failure of the top at Xerox...although it doesn't quite come out and say that...The top did not have a hint about these advances because they were from another world (Rochester, Copiers, not PARC/El Segundo and GUI/Ethernet). Read the book, but remember, no matter how hard those in middle management yell...if the top does "not have ears to hear" - it will not hear! ETW, Los Angeles, CA, now a retired TRW Employee



4. As most people in the computer industry know Xerox pioneered many of the key breakthroughs in the computer industry, but then they were not able to capitalize on the technology they developed. Many, many other companies have made billions of dollars; however, Xerox just couldn't figure out how to reap the benefits.

   The authors of "Fumbling the Future" go into this history in great detail. They first set the stage by describing Xerox's early history, how Xerox invented a copier, and for a number of years they were so successful that they were able to basically print money. Many of the major players in the industry are mentioned, their goals and interests. Xerox was very aggressive, and in some ways they were also a bit lucky, with the copier. Then Xerox decided they needed to also get into the computer industry.

   Next the authors talk about how the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was created, how George Pake selected various key people to help staff the research center, and the charter PARC was given. The book goes over who was hired, what they did, and how the groups at PARC worked together, and sometimes didn't work together.

   Here is where you can start to see the train wreck. The first President of Xerox, Joe Wilson, seems to have been a very gifted leader. In terms of "Good to Great" by Jim Collins, Joe Wilson was a level five leader. Unfortunately Joe Wilson dies, and the next president of Xerox, Peter McColough, was at best a level four leader. Peter decided to spend almost a billion dollars for a niche science computer company which Peter then tried to force out into the general computer market, going up against IBM. Peter also took Xerox into Medicine and Education. And Peter got involved in Politics and Charities. Peter McColough was not focused on Xerox, and let several problems simmer.

   We get some insights into what drove the researchers at PARC to develop the first personal computer, the Alto, and many of the reasons why it was revolutionary. The authors chart the destruction of the potential of the Alto, largely because of various managers at Xerox not catching the vision, or those who caught the vision not being able to work well with upper management.

   One thing which would have improved the book was to have some pictures. It would have been nice to have some pictures of the early copiers, the Alto, and some of the major players.

   It was a well written book, with a lot of good history, and some important lessons. Even though you know how it will all turn out, this was a hard book to put down.




5. This book tells the story of the greatest failure of a corporation in our time to create marketable products from truly great research. It starts by telling the story of how PARC was conceived and how it operated.
   
   In 1973, a number of researchers at Xerox PARC demonstrated the "Alto". The Alto was the first "personal computer" designed not only on a human scale for a single individual but supported by a number of improvements that rendered it "instantly responsive to the user's demands", each of them revolutionary in the computer field. They included: a graphics-oriented monitor with "icons" and overlapping "pages" on the screen that was coordinated by the "mouse" input device; a word-processing program "for nonexpert users"; a local area network, the "Ethernet"; and an object-oriented programming language that combined data with certain commands, which hugely simplified computer operations.
   
   These attributes represented nothing less than a paradigm shift for the computer industry, away from the punch cards, unwieldy printouts of results, obscure programming codes, and the awkward time-sharing arrangements that were the hallmarks of mainframe computers. At that moment, Xerox had a full five-year head start over its future rivals. (Amazingly, PCs have changed little. with the exception of incremental improvements, from this fundamental prototype.)
   
   Unfortunately, few at Xerox headquarters understood the importance of these developments. From its beginning, many executives at Xerox headquarters viewed PARC as a kind of uncontrollable island of insolence and arrogance. When Xerox managers visited PARC, they were struck by the rudeness and counter-cultural feel of the place. For their part, PARC researchers viewed headquarters with open disdain at the leadership's inability to understand not only what PARC was doing, but the jargon they were forging.
   
   The mutual distrust between headquarters and its Palo Alto lab neither encouraged Xerox executives to learn about how PARC's inventions might fit into the modern office nor allowed PARC's managers to sell their inventions to the company's manufacturing units. Even worse, PARC had no one in Xerox's top leadership to champion their product ideas or even to get things done - at the moment when PARC's technological innovations were ready for commercial development, the Xerox Corporation was entering a prolonged period of crisis, the "lost decade" of the 1970s.
   
   To the shock of many Xerox leaders, Japanese manufacturers came up with a number of basic innovations in design, greatly enhancing the reliability and performance of their copiers while reducing their cost. With this stunningly executed strategy, the Japanese manufacturers succeeded in turning Xerox's supposed comparative advantages (of a huge sales force and repair facilities and patented technolgies that were being squeezed of every last drop of their value) into unsustainable liabilities.
   
   It was in this context - a crisis of rapidly diminishing market share, with financiers and accountants ascendant within the Xerox bureaucracy - that PARC managers were attempting to sell their revolutionary inventions. Unfortuately, the top leadership at Xerox had turned its attention to investigating the methods of Japanese companies, in particular the techniques of total quality management, which would occupy the attention of David Kearns, the new Xerox CEO, into the 1980s.
   
   Beyond the numbers, PARC was pitting itself against the corporation's incentive system: because the Xerox manufacturing divisions had quarterly targets it had to meet, adding an entirely new line of products threatened to disrupt the flow of revenues, which meant they wouldn't get their bonuses.
   
   Moreover, as an embryonic business that could only promise growth somewhere in the future, the Alto III attracted little attention at headquarters - Xerox managers had long grown accustomed to massive returns rung up at the click of a button on a leased machine, in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In light of this expectation, the Alto III appeared too small to bother with.
   
   In December 1979, Steve Jobs had visited PARC and was working to incorporate the software capabilities he had observed into the first mass-market personal computers. In addition, Jobs, Bill Gates, and others had begun to hire researchers away from PARC: disgusted by the obtuseness of Xerox headquarters regarding their work, many of them were yearning to move to more entrepreneurial environments. They felt that they had accomplished virtually all that they could at PARC.
   
   Nonetheless, with approval from headquarters, a number of PARC's best engineers had begun to develop the Star workstation. Unveiled at a computer trade show in April 1981, the Star generated great excitement. Packed with many of PARC's best features, such an as-it-would-print document screen and electronic mail, the Star was unlike anything that had ever been sold in the industry. However, once on the market, the Star quickly revealed a number of drawbacks. First, with so many features that required processing power, it was extremely slow. Second, it was also too bulky for many offices. Third, it retailed at over US$16,000, pushing it out of reach of all but the richest of corporations. Fourth, the Star lacked a spread sheet, which many office executives wanted, and its "closed" software system would not run those offered by other companies.
   
   While criticized as a typical engineering product with an over-abundance of esoteric features, the Star was far more a reflection of Xerox headquarters: recalling the runaway success of the 914 monopoly, they had assumed that the Star would set the de facto standard for an entirely new industry, which Xerox would again dominate - regardless of the price. Even worse, they had failed to appreciate that this time, the company faced some extremely nimble and hungry competitors.
   
   Xerox had also failed to train its copier salesmen regarding the vision behind, and unique features of, the Star: it was supposed to be the first step in Xerox's re-making of the office environment. Unfortunately, accustomed to selling copiers to lower-level managers, Xerox salesmen understood little of this and many had no idea who to approach within corporations with this revolutionary new product. From their experience with the blockbuster early copier 914, they - along with the leaders in their company - were accustomed to marketing hardware, whereas the Star's principal advantages came from its software. Talk about implementation failure!!
   
   In August 1981, IBM introduced the personal computer (PC). While far more primitive and less user-friendly than the Star - with no mouse, no Ethernet capability, no icons, no multi-tasking windows - it was priced at less than US$5,000. Quickly surpassing the Star in sales, the IBM PC set the standard for the emerging market of affordable personal computers. For all intents and purposes, Xerox would view the PC revolution, which it had virtually created, from the sidelines - it had squandered a lead of over 5 years!!!
   
   Following the failure of the Star workstation, morale at PARC plummeted. To make things worse, in 1981 Xerox appointed a new director at PARC, Bill Spencer, who failed to grasp the unique chemistry of the computer lab. Spencer immediately locked horns with Bob Taylor, who resigned and took most of his top staff with him to DEC. This marked ended Xerox's effort to fundamentally reinvent the modern office.
   
   Nonetheless, PARC could boast a few commercial successes. Most prominent of these was Gary Starkweather's laser printer, which he had moved to PARC to develop in 1971. After a few years of work perfecting the device and a long and difficult period of promoting it from within Xerox, Starkweather was able to convince the company to manufacture a version of his machine in 1977. Though Xerox had barely beaten IBM to the market with the product in spite of a three-year technological lead, its laser printer became one of the best selling Xerox products of all time, eventually becoming a US$2 billion business per year. Its acceptance within the company was made easier by the fact that it was largely a hardware product, with technology familiar to Xerox.
   
   This is meaty stuff, and the authors cover it well and the book is very very well written. It is best when telling the story of the disconnect between PARC and Xerox HQ in an effort to explain the failure, though the technical aspects of how PARC operated are summarized well (and never in excessive detail). This is at heart an organizational behavior book, not a how-to (or how to not) innovate book.
   
   Recommended.

1 comments about Oracle Tuning Power Scripts: With 100+ High Performance SQL Scripts (Oracl in-Focus).

1. This isn't a review. amazon lists this book as having 1200 pages, but the publisher only claims 500 while another vendor says 480.

3 comments about Oracle Utilities Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)).

1. Mishra gives an Oracle DBA a concise guide to version 10g, the latest Oracle database. The blurb on the back cover refers to a plethora of options with these utilities. Thumbing through the book, you can certainly see this. And who can remember all those, or want to? Hence the reason for the book.
   
   The notation is BNF and should be familiar to any unix user. But also very useful in the book are the examples given of common usage of most utilities, with typical results also shown. Sometimes, the quickest way to grasp a usage.



2. This O'Reilly pocket reference contains straightforward documentation about the Oracle DBMS utility set, current as of 10g (expdp and impdp are included). Terse, accurate, straightforward. A much faster way to find answers (once you know the questions) than the often wordy Oracle Press tomes and a useful supplement to that series, for the everyday Oracle DBA.



3. If you're used to UNIX-like man pages, then this is a great guide for Oracle's utilities. Quick, concise, no fluff and well organized. It provides just enough detail where needed but doesn't go into overkill on the topics.
   
   It has already saved me a ton of time and if you use Oracle even semi-regularly, this is a must-have.

1 comments about Database Systems Using Oracle (2nd Edition).

1. This book is remarkable for the clear manner in which it explains the basics of relational databases in general and Oracle in particular. I am currently in training for Oracle Certified Professional and had been using study guides and class material to learn Oracle. These are fine for passing the OCP exam, but they leave many gaps in the finer points which lead to thoroughly understanding Oracle.

   Since this book's goal is to explain Oracle's SQL Plus and PL/SQL languages instead of getting you through an examination with a passing grade it goes into details that my training missed. I especially like the way that database concepts, design and modeling are covered in the first chapter, and the step-by-step approach to teaching SQL and PL/SQL by actually performing useful tasks such as creating tables and working with tables.

   In addition to the basics, this book covers advanced topics such as row locking, performance and joins and set operations. PL/SQL is given the same thorough treatment as SQL Plus and as you read through the book and actually perform the tasks on a real Oracle instance your understanding and skill level increases greatly. Since PL/SQL is rich in features and programming constructs the care with which the author explains the basics and how to apply them in a real environment made learning fun and builds your self confidence.

   I also liked the attention given to database administration tasks in the final part of the book, and found the SQL Plus and PL/SQL quick reference in the back of the book useful on many occasions.

   If you don't have the luxury of attending Oracle training this book is an excellent substitute, and even if you're going through OCP training this book will fill in the gaps that will surely arise since the course is fast paced. Note that this book uses Oracle 8i as the example environment, but the material works with the newer 9i version too.

5 comments about Oracle9i DBA Handbook.

1. I'm an Oracle developer who has inherited admin responsiblities for a medium sized database/application. This book DOES provide the information necessary to do that.

   I am pursuing the OCA/OCP track as part of this new responsibility and, as other reviewers have stated, this book does NOT act as a study guide by itself.

   Additionally, it is NOT a replacement for Metalink for more subtle problems/issues.




2. I have 2y. experience on Ora8i & 9i.2 on windows 2000 and winXP german platform. Bought tons of those fat & bulky Oracle books of all these gurus (Loney, Urmann, Trezzo, ...) including 9i reference books. A lot of money thrown out!
   
   Oracle (9i) Universal Installer and oracle Enterprise Manager got more foolproof, I recommend to install w/o a book first & let the wizzard do the work. Oracle 10g should be even more "adaptive".
   
   We had bought the official german translation Oracle Press/Hanser for a migration project from Sybase Adaptive Anywhere 7.0.4 to Oracle 9i.2. well, maybe everything is covered, but explanations are FAR too short.
   example 1: the new feature pfile or spfile instead of init<...>.ora
   This is not even a reference book! Just a waste of 2.36 inch (6cm) space on your bookshelf to say it straight.
   example 2: book index lacks the keywords you are looking for
   
   At least the book (german edition) is long lasting, nicely layouted and printed on decent quality paper. It doesn't fall apart as other Oracle paperbacks from Osborne/McGrawHill. Two stars for that.
   
   All in all, if you are in deep trouble with your Oracle Database don't hope for help of these authors/gurus, i.e. no e-mail support.
   Better get a free sign up to Technet (OTN) and save the money for a TOAD license. Or buy a book from Mike Ault.
   
   Last but not least it's an outdated book (as of Sep 2004), Oracle 10g is out. it's a fast paced world.



3. This book falls far short of being a DBA handbook. It is more useful to someone who needs to "get by" for a few weeks while their DBA is away.
   
   It is ok at showing you how to "do things" in some cases (hence 2 stars). But, if you need to work backwards (i.e you might want to query dictionary tables to find out where something lives and why) then this book is almost useless. I am an experienced Oracle DBA and decided to write this review after referencing this book 10 times in the past week and not finding any help at all from this book in each case. The index is worse than useless.
   
   This books title should have been "a DBA overview"



4. It is a good compilation of Oracle DBA 9i functionality. When it comes to using for real DBA work, I find it nearly impractical. One can not cover every little detail in a book like this to call it a handbook. With information available from software provider, books need to be written in much simpler manner rather than regrugitating what already exists.
   
   I am more of an Oracle training manuals person which gives many specifics around various concepts and commands. I basically classify basic DBA knowledge at four levels(see below). You can basically control database behaviour at the system level(ALTER SYSTEM) or at the session(SET) level and some programmatically using Oracle supplied(DBMS) packages. Once you understand this idea, you can expand knowledge of various parameters and commands by simply searching them in Oracle documentation and using them as needed. Offcourse I do expect DBAs to know about Oracle architecture. Well can someone write a book in 100 pages that acts as a good starting point rather than redundant reference.
   
   Four Levels:
   a)Oracle Software Level(Installing, Patching etc.), Universal Installer teaches you a lot. Knowing OMF and OFA is recommended. Understanding Architecture.
   b)Oracle System/Database Level: Setting parameters at instance level, creating control files, parameter files, tablespaces and altering them. Oracle Database Configuration Assistant and OEM can help you here.
   c) Control at session level using SET command.
   d) Backup and Restore: SQLLoader, Export, Import, RMAN utilities, Operating System Backups.
   Tuning issues fall under b and c category.
   
   Hope this helps. I tried using the reference, not very successful in what I wanted to do. Price wise the book is a deal.



5. First off, I purchased this book as I am taking a course in Relational Database Design using Oracle 9i. I had labs to do that involved setting up user accounts, giving/revoking permissions to tables, etc. THe "Complete Reference" didn't have the necessary information--some but not all. This book--the DBA Handbook--had more complete information that quickly gave me me the information that I needed to answer the questions. I must admit that I shyed away from it at the beginning of the course because I read all the negative comments here. But I am glad that my desperation (because the Oracle product documentation was absolutely no help) pushed me to go to nearest Borders to check it out before purchasing it. I am happy with it.

1 comments about Hands-On Oracle Database 10g Express Edition for Linux (Osborne Oracle Press).

1. If you try to Learn Oracle, this is the way to go. the book introduce you to basic Relational Database concepts also provide you with the Application Express Web Development.
   
   Learn and start with Oracle is a snap with the Book, the samples work great and the Book can be bought for your OS [ Linux or Windows ].
   
   For a while I feel intimidated for so many books on Oracle this surely is the book that will make you start working and administering your first Oracle Database. Medium and Expert users can use it as Freebie and Development Tool.

No comments about Workflow for Oracle E-Business Suite (Classroom Edition).