4 comments about Programming with Oracle Developer (Sams White Book).

1. Bennett and Duer have done an excellent job in explaining the underlying technology of Oracle Developer. This material is as useful to the beginner as it is for review by the accomplished, but not Oracle-savvy developer. This book will find its way onto many reference shelves, and deservedly so. Good work!



2. This book is ok for beginner. Some typo and no need to explain the toolbars icon in lots of pages.
   I recommand to read the last serveral chapters "how to develop a real word project using form builder and report builder and deploy them to the web".



3. In my view the 'From the back cover' in the editorial review is eufimistic. It also annouces Joe Duer as the author.
   This makes it misleading, and no explanation was offered.



4. I am using this book as supplement for the Building Internet Applications I and II study guide by Christopher Allen. I bought this with the intent to get some information on report not covered well in the book. This book certainly has the information I wanted. This book may be written for a beginers. The book has useful information but overall I was not excited about the book. But I still give 4 stars for the contents.
   
   ....

5 comments about Ocp: Oracle8I Dba SQL and Pl/SQL Study Guide : Exam 1Z0-001 (OCP Study Guide).

1. I just completed the exam several hours ago and failed it with a 27/59. I am making this posting so that test takers can get a range of opinions and NOT get the perception that everybody passes the exam. First, I would like to say that I studied for this exam for three days. My recommendations are to: Study this book thoroughly and not to cram for the exam. Study each chapter thoroughly and each concept thoroughly. There are over 23 different concepts that the real exam tests. The test is very broad and doesn't concentrate on any specific area - that is what makes it so hard. However, I do recommend knowing all the information in the book thoroughly before taking the exam. If I would have done so I would have done alot better on the exam. Also, I would not recommend cramming for exam.



2. This seems to be the best book out there for IZ0-001.For the most part this book is great,however certain topics like LOCKS, PRIVILIGES and VIEWS are covered at a very high level of abstraction.I would recommend oracle manual for these topics.Aditionally the book does cover pair-wise comparison but does not explicitly use this term.Please be sure to familiarize urself with pair-wise comparison.From what i have been told IZ0-001 almost always has a question on pair-wise comparison and i sure did have one.



3. This seems to be the best book out there for IZ0-001.For the most part this book is great,however certain topics like LOCKS, PRIVILIGES and VIEWS are covered at a very high level of abstraction.I would recommend oracle manual for these topics.Aditionally the book does cover pair-wise comparison but does not explicitly use this term.Please be sure to familiarize urself with pair-wise comparison.From what i have been told IZ0-001 almost always has a question on pair-wise comparison and i sure did have one.



4. I used this book for the Exam 1z0-001. It is well-written and easy to understand. The book covers all the topics tested on the test. I even had some questions similar to some in the book. I took the exam on March 29, 2004 and I passed it. I will recommend this book to OCP candidates and even to someone new to oracle. Well! I already recommended that to some people who bought it. I also used as supplement the Oracle Press book written by Jason Couchman. The main goal is not to cram but understand the material.

   I give 4 stars.




5. I used this book for the 1Z0-007 Exam and I passed with a score of 48/52 !!. It includes almost all the chapters.
   You just need to study the new oracle 9i features.
   Great book !!
   
   Thanks a lot.

5 comments about Pro Oracle Spatial.

1. I had a very bad accident back over the Christmas (2004)/New Year (2005) period and while confined to bed, a copy of "Pro Oracle Spatial" arrived in the mail.
   
   Loving a good book, I quickly scanned the Table of Contents (nice to see it has a good Index as well!) and decided this was worth a read.
   
   Well, it is no novel, so it took me a few months to digest; but digest it I did. No "heart burn" here: rather more it "lit the inner fires" of one of my passions: database-based spatial!
   
   I started out in computing nearly 20 years ago on mainframe databases migrating to GIS within 5 years as it was a more interesting field of computing than business computing (and it allowed me to combine my computing science qualifications with my geomatics degree). However, the thing I missed the most was the solidity of the science underlying databases which allowed for logical separation of application from internal implementation: the GIS world was fixated on physical data formats (1960s computing). It took many years before the work of people like Michael Stonebraker and the science and math underlying Abstract Data Types (ADTs) finally hit the work of relational database management (RDBMS) to give us ORDBMS.
   
   And the rest, as they say, is history.
   
   Oracle Spatial has come a long way since the days of Multi-Dimension. The hard working team of dedicated developers up there in New Hampshire have built a rock solid piece of technology and deserve recognitition for it. Books like this go a long way to giving them that recognition and widen the audience for database-based spatial to a group of people who will appreciate what they have done because it is "familiar territory" and mainstream.
   
   As a GIS professional and long standing database expert, I found this book covered much familiar territory, but even I found it gave a fresh perspective on what can be the tedious read of online documentation (no offence to the Oracle documentation team intended). In other words: I learned a few things I didn't know!
   
   The more familar base concepts that are covered in the book are clear and lucid and a great adjunct to the manuals. The will make it easy for non-spatially literate people to "get up to speed".
   
   I particularly liked the Case Studies as it is always enlightening to see how others made the rubber hit the ground.
   
   The Common Mistakes and Errors chapter (14) had me nodding in ascent. I was "tickled pink" to discover that the original Multi-Dimension roots of Oracle Spatial are still there in the HHENCODE function described in "Reorganize the Table Data to Minimise I/O". My only regret was that I have wasted time implementing a version of the PEANO space curve (linear_key) in Java and PL/SQL and deployed it into 8.1.7.4 when I hadn't needed to do it all along! The discovery of the HHENCODE function (page 582) came at a time I was dusting off the old Peano code for the organisation of some Lidar data for my current employer. Thanks Oracle Spatial team for leaving the function in the product even at 10g!
   
   I found the MapViewer and Network Analysis chapters clear and accessible and I particularly liked the Appendix on "Additional Spatial Analysis Functions" as this was an "eye opener" that confirmed for me that the Oracle team really do understand the uses for spatial data. Again, I could see immediate application at my workplace.
   
   If you are their target audience ie [... application developers who are familar with Oracle technolgies and want to enhance their applications with spatial information ... but ... do not know much about spatial data] ("Who Should Read This Book?", page xxx) then this book is for you. If you are from a more traditional GIS background (and want to know what all the fuss is about) then you should get a copy of this book because the sort of technology that is described within it is part of the future of the geospatial data management and processing. For more seasoned Oracle and GIS veterans: even you will find something in it that is worth the price.
   
   Order one today.
   
   Simon Greener
   GIS Manager, Oracle Spatial enthusiast
   Allens Rivulet, Tasmania, Australia.
   Longitude: 147.2048
   Latitude: -43.0141



2. First off this book seems to be excellent for the topic at hand. However I am giving it 1 star since the publisher has put a restriction on it that it can only sell for the full book price. Retailers are not allowed to sell this book for less than the publisher price of $69.99
   
   How do I know this? I tried to purchase it in a Barnes and Noble and was told that the Publisher has put a restriction on retailers for this title.
   
   Therefore buying it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookpool or anywhere else will not get you a discount.
   
   Instead it will have to be read in a Barnes and Noble store over coffee.
   
   Simply because of the publisher not allowing the price to flex I am giving this book a rating of 1 star.
   
   Publishers please pay attention and remove this restriction.



3. Lack of discounts aside, the book is a tremendous value. It's well-written, indexed, and edited and a pleasure to read. It's been great fun for me to work through the examples. I only have 2 significant complaints: (1) there were far too few diagrams (i.e., maps), particularly in chapter 7 where they would have helped greatly and (2) there should have been more discussion about mapping basics including map projections since this is a subject about which most DBA's and developers have little knowledge and an area where mistakes in storing, manipulating, and displaying geographic data are often made. I know there are cartography books dedicated to this sort of thing, but I suspect many Oracle users would not even know enough to bother with them.
   I would recommend the book, Mapping Hacks published by O'Reilly as a nicely complementary addition to your library.
   In short a fantastic book well worth the price.



4. Excellent book. I have been using Oracle Spatial for years but found various useful insights in this book. It is well laid out, accessible and covers pretty much all the bases. Good examples and case studies. Tackles the thorny issues around spatial indexing as well as I have seen.
   
   Why can't Oracle do documentation like this ?!
   
   Only drawback is that I found some errors in the discussion of transportable tablespaces WRT Spatial data.



5. For RIGHT now, this is the definitive guide to Oracle Spatial. There is another book coming out soon (also by Apress) for Oracle 11g. I bought this book as a beginner. It presents the concepts and provides detail very well. Being an Oracle DBA I find that this book is more oriented towards Developers. Nevertheless, I found this book a great starting point and feel that it brought me to the point of being able to understand Oracle Spatial to a point where I can hold an intelligent conversation. The use of example in every chapter brings theory to reality in a tangible manner. I look forward to purchasing Pro Oracle Spatial for Oracle Database 11g (Pro) when released.

5 comments about Creating a Self-Tuning Oracle Database: Automating Oracle9i Dynamic SGA Performance (Oracle In-Focus series).

1. This was very enjoyable read and I'm very happy to see that many of the details about using the Oracle9i dynamic SGA are revealed. The problem has always been that the Oracle documentation tells you about the new features yet fail to tell you about how to apply them.

   After reading this book I was able to understand the automatic-tuning methods in Oracle10g and they made sense because the author revealed some of the mechanisms that they use. The online scripts are very nice also, with many I had never seen before.




2. The book is everything the other reviewers have already said. The author surely knows what he is writing and the book contains lot of useful information on the inner workings of SGA and how to fine tune it.
   
   One caveat, the author deliberately leaves out the details on the STATSPACK so he can sell you an ANOTHER book on STATSPACK which he also wrote. I found this little annoying since STATSPACK is the primary utility to monitor SGA, and hence, I felt it should have been covered in complete detail instead of just a glimpse in order to sell an another book.



3. Don Burleson has his name on more Oracle books than (I believe) any other author. However, many other experts on the Oracle database spend a significant portion of their time debunking errors and misinformation that he disseminates in articles and books like these. [...] where a search for "Burleson" will turn up several articles which point out inaccuracies in his articles or statements.



4. The majority of the information in this book, while looking impressive, is actually so much fluff. A majority of it will either do nothing for performance or make performance worse. Yes, on some systems, some of the suggestions may improve performance, but there is not enough information provided to show you where or when which changes will make which improvements.
   
   Here is an interesting section:
   
   - Plotting the Data Buffer Hit Ratio by Hour of the Day
   
   Isn't that nice. I can graph my buffer hit ratio by hour by day. That is going to help me a lot! The author is still stuck in the ratio mindset and doesn't seem to truly understand how the Oracle SGA actually works. Doesn't show it to the reader anyways.



5. Statspack is a Godsend tool from Oracle, and this book goes even further than 10g.
   
   This and the previous edition of the book provide DBAs with an excellent introduction into understanding statspack internal tables and great ideas on how to integrate critically important OS statistics into the statspack data gathering process to a self tuning database.
   
   I found this book and the WISE Oracle tool to be invaluable tools that extend statspack capabilities and help to resolve complex performance problems.

5 comments about Oracle Backup & Recovery 101.

1. I would rate this book 5 stars for the material. But, gosh, is there any Oracle book without mistakes? When would authors and publishes care enough to eliminate them, or at least minimise them? Even errata contains only about 50% of necessary corrections - after 6 months from being published.
   What is the value of instructions if you can't follow them?
   If you know how to correct them by yourself, then you can buy this book, otherwise it would be another pain.



2. Oracle backup and recovery can be very complex. The standard Oracle documentation is hard to follow and missing examples and scenarios. I've read this book cover to cover, and the authors have done an excellent job at capturing the information you need to know to backup and recover your Oracle database. The Linux discussions are applicable to any Unix platform as well. This book is a great reference to have before disaster strikes.



3. This book has almost one error per page which is much too high for a technical book. It is unfortunate that the authors did not put in the effort to proof read the book and to check their solutions. It is interesting to note that the solutions on the web site are not consistent with the exercises in the book.

   I wonder how the authors authors keep their real jobs if their attention to detail is the same as demonstrated in this book.




4. I thought this book was great! I really enjoyed the material and the analogies. I really get Oracle backup & recovery now. Forget about the typo's -- the material is what counts.



5. I think that this book is excellent. Backup and recovery can be hard to understand at times, especially for those who are new to it. It is a great book that is all hands on, and that's the way you learn B/R, not just by reading. If you have a little bit of knowledge of B/R then this book will really help you a lot. I know people complained about the typos, but that is not that big of an issue, plus they already have an errata out for it. The only downside I guess is that everything is done using Oracle 8i and some commands are different. But if you combine this book with the Oracle9i Backup and Recovery documentation then you're all set! I think it explains things very well and makes you do things so you can see what exactly is going on. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has a little knowledge of Oracle B/R but would like to put that knowledge into practice. I want to give it 4.5 stars because of the minor typos and using 8i, but can't :) BUY THE BOOK!
   Good Luck!!

5 comments about OCP Oracle9i Database: Performance Tuning Exam Guide.

1. I bought the Sybex book. One of my colleagues bought this Oracle Press book. I read both and passed the test with plenty to spare. For the Oracle9i Performance Tuning Exam, I strongly recommend Oracle Press over Sybex. If you are buying just one, get the Oracle Press book. In particular, the Oracle Press sample tests and CD-ROM tests are much closer to the actual exam than Sybex.



2. My purpose was to pass the exam and I have done it using this book but also the Sybex book by J. Johnson.
   Both of them are very good books and are complementary.

   Pros:
   - very well structured and very clear
   - the exam-based questions are representative
   - the level of detail for package procedures is good

   Cons:
   - some answers to exam questions I had can't be found in the book
   - there are typing mistakes in capital letters commands

   My advice:
   - have a good understanding of Oracle views. I had between 10 and 15 questions relating to views.
   - use both books to be well prepared. This exam is quite difficult.




3. Read this book - took the Beta exam failed by 6 wrong answers. Second attempt passed - thanks now an OCP Certified. The explanations are good. Need more explanation, the new feature and their effectiveness on the 9i with respect to performance tuning. This would have helped use this book for standard reference for performance tuning 9i. I don't like to keep lot of books around. Now I have to get rid of this and get a book for 9i tuning reference purposes.



4. I used this book to study for the Performance Tuning Exam. This book covers all the objectives of the exam in much more organized way. The chapters reflect the contents of the checklist designed by oracle. Study the chapters carefully before taking the practice exams. Concerning the practices exam itself, it has some mistakes. Some of the answers to the questions are wrong but if you understand the material you will notice those mistakes. Or if you want to clear any doubt you can also check the oracle online manual.
   On the exam, expect a lot of questions concerning the views, latch contentions, and some initializations parameters.
   My suggestion to you is if you want to maximize your chance you can buy the sybex study guide which is also good. Both books are good for the exam except that I found the Oracle press book more organized. I will definitely recommend them if you are planning to take the performance tuning exam.



5. I used this book to study for the exam. The explanations on this book is very good. The only fault on this book is the level of the questions. The questions on this book are very weak compared with the real exam. So, keep in mind that to think to take the exam, you will need to have a score upper than 90% on the test of the book, to have a chance to pass on the real exam. I bought the SelfTest too and there is the same problem with the questions. But, the key is: you need to understand the concepts behind the questions. If you understand that, you will not have problems to pass on the exam.
   
   I had take the test last week and a I pass on the exam with 82% score. To study I use this book and the Self Test Software.

4 comments about Oracle8i Backup & Recovery.

1. Finally book that explains it all. Very simple, easy to read/understand. Backup commands in various operating systems VMS, Windows NT, UNIX, VMS, Physical, logical backups and useful backup scripts. Author has done excellent job explaining backup/recovery using Oracle Enterprise Manager 2.1 against Oracle 8i database. Very good examples on using Oracle Console/Oracle Management Server. This book is very new and has already one of my favorite book among other Oracle press books I have in my library. Oracle Enterprise Manager is available on OTN Network for download ...



2. Well written, informative, accurate. The coverage of recovery internals is excellent. The only book in the bibliography of Oracle's "Oracle 8i Data Server Internals" seminars.



3. The first five chapters of this book have good technical information, but could be better if expressed more clearly. Forget that! The other five chapters have great technical information and got through to me very well. Chapter 10 is a set of 22 valuable "case studies" in which the authors simulate a set of failures they say are representative of DBAs' most common problems. For each, they explain the right DBA reactions; sometimes they explain other reactions and why those are aren't as useful. Good connections with Oracle. Strong technical credibility. Great explanations in the second half. Valuable!



4. This book does an excellent job in helping both the experinced and the novice learn about the Oracle Backup and Recovery features. It saved me a lot of time and money (didn't have to hire that consultant). Excellent explination of features and actually gives sound advice.

5 comments about Oracle Database 10g New Features: Oracle10g Reference for Advanced Tuning & Administration (Oracle In-Focus series).

1. When the New Features books come out with each version of Oracle, I look forward to grabbing the best one and sitting down and reading it. This book has everything that I wanted, the New Features explained thoroughly and examples that help me understand any new concepts. Yes, this book seems like it does rehash the Oracle documentation to, but what book can not somewhat? The good thing is this book goes beyond the Oracle documentation giving you much more. I highly recommended this book for all DBA's who want to keep up on the latest and greatest coming out of Redwood Shores, CA.



2. I have the Freeman 10g new features book, but I found this one to be a much better value because it has more detailed information about the 10g new features. I was also happy that the book shows working examples and it contains a full wealth of "how to" use the new features and not just a rehash of the 10g documents.



3. I have both of the 10g new features book, and this one has more details that I needed when I moved my 9i database to 10g. The other book is OK, but this one has more inteligence in choosing which features to feature. The organisation is also good.



4. After wasting my money on the Freeman book I got this one because it has far more comprehensive coverage. I detest Oracle Press books and it is refreshing to see the top authors like Mike Ault coming into their own with books that are made for real people.



5. This was one of the earliest books on Oracle10g new features. As a fact, I believe it was THE earliest book on Oracle10g new features. I didn't have choice, thinking at least I can use it as a reference book.
   I was wrong.
   It is just a collection of trivial things very badly organized. Every topic gets it's two or three very short paragraphs.
   Also, this book is not a normal sized book as other Oracle books I have. Every page can barely content even the very short two or three paragraphs, just make it harder to read.
   Anyway, it had been on my book shelf collecting dust for about a couple of years. Last week we were doing spring cleaning. I decided to get rid off it. At first, I was thinking to sell it on eBay, but couldn't bear the thought that someone will be cursing my name. ;). So I just put it into the recycle bin, (not the Windows one, but the one for Waste Management).

No comments about Introduction to Oracle 10G & Database CD Package.

4 comments about Oracle Application Server 10g: J2EE Deployment and Administration.

1. I am an administrator for a large corporation migrating from SQL Server to Oracle. Our Oracle DBA loved this book so much he stole it from me!
   
   In passing, he told me what great books Apress had and would actually pay me for my copy! So, why am I here? This book is so good, even an Oracle DBA would steal it just to read it!



2. The 10g is Oracle's answer to IBM's WebSphere and JBoss. Wessler certainly wastes no time in delineating how you can use 10g to develope J2EE applications. There are some mundane chapters on installing and configuring it. Important, granted. But the crux of the book is the chapters on making and deploying web applications, EJBs and Web Services within 10g. If you look here, 10g seems to allow for any standard J2EE application to run within it.
   
   Crucially, suppose you commit to designing and developing one of these applications, to use 10g to hook to an Oracle database. Then your code can be largely independent of that database and 10g. In principle, you can migrate it to another J2EE compliant container, over a different database, and have only minimal changes. Realistically, your code under 10g will have all sorts of little Oracle dependencies. But this book suggests that with careful design, you can safely use 10g and still preserve a migration option. No Oracle lock in.



3. This is a step-by-step walkthrough of Oracle App Server programming. It goes from application architecture basics through twenty-one chapters on using various APIs and services (with one on installation) to end on clustering and failover. Graphics are used quite heavily, often showing page by page use of various Wizards.
   
   Where the book excels is in it's explanation of the various XML descriptor standards required to register web services, or message queues, or various other system services. Often these things are opaque mojo and the author demystifies these files and shows exactly where modifications need to be made.
   
   The code samples are relatively short, just enough to flesh out the topic.
   
   This is more a field guide than an indefensible reference work. The chapters are too brief and the coverage too scanty to be an in-depth treatise on any one topic. As long as you understand this you won't be disappointed.



4. Great coverage of the Oracle 10g Application server from more of a developer perspective than that of a DBA. With this book and the other text you have complete coverage of this complex technology.