Oracle in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference

Introduced a quarter-century ago, the Oracle database remains the leading enterprise relational database management system (RDBMS) in the world. Oracle is a complex system, offering a myriad of products, languages, and tools. Frequent updates, releases, and editions complicate the ability of Oracle users to keep up with the huge amounts of frequently changing information about the database and its capabilities.

The goal of Oracle in a Nutshell is to pull together the most essential information on Oracle architecture, syntax, and user interfaces. The content and format of this book, an admirable addition to O'Reilly's respected In-a-Nutshell line, combine to boil down vital Oracle commands, language constructs, parameters, and file formats in a succinct and highly accessible desktop reference.

Oracle in a Nutshell covers the information that database administrators PL/SQL and Java developers, and system, network, and security administrators need as they manage Oracle databases and write code for these databases. It includes:

• Oracle Foundations—Overview of the Oracle architecture (memory structures and fundamental concepts), Oracle's various editions and packaging options, summary of the initialization file parameters and data dictionary views, and fundamentals of Oracle's concurrency scheme, security mechanisms (privileges, profiles, roles), and networking files (TNSNAMES.ORA, SQLNET.ORA, LISTENER.ORA, DAP.ORA, NAMES.ORA, CMAN.ORA) and options.
• Oracle Languages—Syntax summary for SQL language statements, SQL function calls PL/SQL language statements and characteristics, PL/SQL built-in package headers, and Java (JDBC and SQLJ) interfaces to the Oracle database.
• Oracle Tools—Commands provided with SQLPlus, SQLLoader, Import and Export, Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) and other backup/recovery methods, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and various performance tuning tools (Explain Plan, TKPROF, AUTOTRACE, UTLBSTAT, UTLESTAT, Statspack).
• Appendixes—Summary of Oracle datatypes, operators, expressions, conditions, numeric and date formats, and resources for additional reading.

Introduced a quarter-century ago, the Oracle database remains the leading enterprise relational database management system (RDBMS) in the world. Oracle is a complex system, offering a myriad of products, languages, and tools. Frequent updates, releases, and editions complicate the ability of Oracle users to keep up with the huge amounts of frequently changing information about the database and its capabilities.

The goal of "Oracle in a Nutshell" is to pull together the most essential information on Oracle architecture, syntax, and user interfaces. The content and format of this book, an admirable addition to O'Reilly's respected In-a-Nutshell line, combine to boil down vital Oracle commands, language constructs, parameters, and file formats in a succinct and highly accessible desktop reference.

"Oracle in a Nutshell" covers the information that database administrators PL/SQL and Java developers, and system, network, and security administrators need as they manage Oracle databases and write code for these databases. It includes:

Oracle Foundations--Overview of the Oracle architecture (memory structures and fundamental concepts), Oracle's various editions and packaging options, summary of the initialization file parameters and data dictionary views, and fundamentals of Oracle's concurrency scheme, security mechanisms (privileges, profiles, roles), and networking files (TNSNAMES.ORA, SQLNET.ORA, LISTENER.ORA, DAP.ORA, NAMES.ORA, CMAN.ORA) and options.

Oracle Languages--Syntax summary for SQL language statements, SQL function calls PL/SQL language statements and characteristics, PL/SQL built-in package headers, and Java (JDBC and SQLJ) interfaces to theOracledatabase.

Oracle Tools--Commands provided with SQL*Plus, SQL*Loader, Import and Export, Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) and other backup/recovery methods, Oracle Enterprise Manager, and various performance tuning tools (Explain Plan, TKPROF, AUTOTRACE, UTLBSTAT, UTLESTAT, Statspack).

Appendixes--Summary of Oracle datatypes, operators, expressions, conditions, numeric and date formats, and resources for additional reading.

Robert Stackowiak is Vice President of Business Intelligence in Oracle's Technology Business Unit. He has worked for over 20 years in business intelligence, data warehousing, and IT-related roles at Oracle, IBM, Harris Corporation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His papers regarding business intelligence and computer and software technology have appeared in publications such as "President & CEO Magazine," "Database Trends and Applications," and The Data Warehousing Institute's publications. He also co-authored the books "Oracle Essentials: Oracle Database 10g" (currently in 3rd Edition, February 2004, O'Reilly), "Oracle Application Server 10g Essentials" (1st Edition, August 2004, O'Reilly), and "Professional Oracle Programming" (1st Edition, June 2005, WROX).

Joseph Rayman leads the Oracle Consulting Business Intelligence Practice in North America with over 20 years of business experience in a vast array of industries, including financial services, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications, healthcare, and federal government. His technical and business leadership spans enterprise architecture design, enterprise data modeling, VLDB system tuning, data warehouse design, data mining, and quality assurance activities for data warehouse practices. Joe is a key contributor in defining and authoring Oracle Consulting's Data Warehousing Methodology. Prior to joining Oracle, Joe designed and deployed business intelligence and statistical analysis solutions for a large food manufacturer and provided real-time trading and analysis solutions for a major international financial organization.

Rick Greenwald has worked in the IT field for over 20 years for major vendors, includingOracle, Gupta Technologies, Cognos, and Data General. He has coauthored more than a dozen books, including "Oracle Essentials: Oracle Database 10g" (currently in 3rd Edition, February 2004, O'Reilly), "Oracle Application Server 10g Essentials" (1st Edition, August 2004, O'Reilly), and "Professional Oracle Programming" (1st Edition, June 2005, WROX). Mr. Greenwald currently works for Ingres Corporation.