"The individual perspectives on the concepts behind the XQuery language offered by XQuery from the Experts will be of great value to those who are seeking to understand the implications, opportunities, and challenges of XQuery as they design future information systems based on XML." —Michael Champion, Advisory Research and Development Specialist, Software AG XQuery answers the growing need for a functional XML search and transformation standard. Backed by the full weight of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), XQuery is being extremely well received by the IT community worldwide. The first major XML language that takes advantage of the benefits of strong typing provided by XML Schema, XQuery has the versatility to manipulate both XML and non-XML data and provides a valuable connection between the world of XML and relational databases. In , select members of the W3C's XML Query working group come together to discuss every facet of XQuery. From Jonathan Robie's introductory "XQuery: A Guided Tour" to Mary Mary Fernández, Jérôme Siméon, and Philip Wadler's "Introduction to the Formal Semantics," XQuery is revealed in a way that both novice programmers and industry experts can appreciate. XQuery from the Experts Edited by long-time XML expert and programmer Howard Katz, coverage ranges from strictly technical chapters to comparative essays such as Michael Kay's "XQuery, XPath, and XSLT," which explores the common ancestry of all three languages, and Don Chamberlin's "Influences on the Design of XQuery," which details the process behind XQuery's design. Key coverage includes: Denise Draper on "Mapping Between XML and Relational Data" Michael Rys exploring "Integrating XQuery and Relational Database Systems" Jim Tivy's analysis of "A Native XML DBMS" Mary Mary Fernández, Jérôme Siméon, and Philip Wadler, presenting "Static Typing in XQuery" Information presented in both a tutorial and a reference framework for use by XML professionals of any level For IT managers, professionals, programmers, or anyone involved with XML, is an invaluable resource. XQuery from the Experts 0321180607B07212003

Data warehouses in the 1990s were for the privileged few business analysts. Business Intelligence is now being democratized by being shared with the rank and file employee demanding higher levels of RDBMS scalability and ease of use, being delivered through Web portals. To support this emerging e-Business Intelligence world, the challenges that face the enterprises for their centralized data warehouse RDBMS technology are scalability, performance, availability and smart manageability. This IBM Redbooks publication focuses on the innovative technical functionalities of DB2 UDB ESE V8.1 and discusses: This book positions the new functionalities, so you can understand and evaluate their applicability in your own enterprise data warehouse environment, and get started prioritizing and implementing them. Please note that the additional material referenced in the text is not available from IBM.

“This book takes the somewhat daunting process of database design and breaks it into completely manageable and understandable components. Mike’s approach whilst simple is completely professional, and I can recommend this book to any novice database designer.” – Sandra Barker, Lecturer, University of South Australia, Australia “Databases are a critical infrastructure technology for information systems and today’s business. Mike Hernandez has written a literate explanation of database technology–a topic that is intricate and often obscure. If you design databases yourself, this book will educate you about pitfalls and show you what to do. If you purchase products that use a database, the book explains the technology so that you can understand what the vendor is doing and assess their products better.” – Michael Blaha, consultant and trainer, author of A Manager’s Guide to Database Technology “If you told me that Mike Hernandez could improve on the first edition of Database Design for Mere Mortals I wouldn’t have believed you, but he did! The second edition is packed with more real-world examples, detailed explanations, and even includes database-design tools on the CD-ROM! This is a must-read for anyone who is even remotely interested in relational database design, from the individual who is called upon occasionally to create a useful tool at work, to the seasoned professional who wants to brush up on the fundamentals. Simply put, if you want to do it right, read this book!” – Matt Greer, Process Control Development, The Dow Chemical Company “Mike’s approach to database design is totally common-sense based, yet he’s adhered to all the rules of good relational database design. I use Mike’s books in my starter database-design class, and I recommend his books to anyone who’s interested in learning how to design databases or how to write SQL queries.” – Michelle Poolet, President, MVDS, Inc. “Slapping together sophisticated applications with poorly designed data will hurt you just as much now as when Mike wrote his first edition, perhaps even more. Whether you’re just getting started developing with data or are a seasoned pro; whether you've read Mike’s previous book or this is your first; whether you're happier letting someone else design your data or you love doing it yourself–this is the book for you. Mike’s ability to explain these concepts in a way that’s not only clear, but fun, continues to amaze me.” –From the Foreword by Ken Getz, MCW Technologies, coauthor ASP.NET Developer's JumpStart “The first edition of Mike Hernandez’s book Database Design for Mere Mortals was one of the few books that survived the cut when I moved my office to smaller quarters. The second edition expands and improves on the original in so many ways. It is not only a good, clear read, but contains a remarkable quantity of clear, concise thinking on a very complex subject. It’s a must for anyone interested in the subject of database design.” – Malcolm C. Rubel, Performance Dynamics Associates “Mike’s excellent guide to relational database design deserves a second edition. His book is an essential tool for fledgling Microsoft Access and other desktop database developers, as well as for client/server pros. I recommend it highly to all my readers.” – Roger Jennings, author of Special Edition Using Access 2002 “There are no silver bullets! Database technology has advanced dramatically, the newest crop of database servers perform operations faster than anyone could have imagined six years ago, but none of these technological advances will help fix a bad database design, or capture data that you forgot to include! Database Design for Mere Mortals™, Second Edition, helps you design your database right in the first place!” – Matt Nunn, Product Manager, SQL Server, Microsoft Corporation “When my brother started his professional career as a developer, I gave him Mike’s book to help him understand database concepts and make real-world application of database technology. When I need a refresher on the finer points of database design, this is the book I pick up. I do not think that there is a better testimony to the value of a book than that it gets used. For this reason I have wholeheartedly recommended to my peers and students that they utilize this book in their day-to-day development tasks.” – Chris Kunicki, Senior Consultant, OfficeZealot.com “Mike has always had an incredible knack for taking the most complex topics, breaking them down, and explaining them so that anyone can ‘get it.’ He has honed and polished his first very, very good edition and made it even better. If you're just starting out building database applications, this book is a must-read cover to cover. Expert designers will find Mike’s approach fresh and enlightening and a source of great material for training others.” – John Viescas, President, Viescas Consulting, Inc., author of Running Microsoft Access 2000 and coauthor of SQL Queries for Mere Mortals “Whether you need to learn about relational database design in general, design a relational database, understand relational database terminology, or learn best practices for implementing a relational database, Database Design for Mere Mortals™, Second Edition, is an indispensable book that you’ll refer to often. With his many years of real-world experience designing relational databases, Michael shows you how to analyze and improve existing databases, implement keys, define table relationships and business rules, and create data views, resulting in data integrity, uniform access to data, and reduced data-entry errors.” – Paul Cornell, Site Editor, MSDN Office Developer Center Sound database design can save hours of development time and ensure functionality and reliability. is a straightforward, platform-independent tutorial on the basic principles of relational database design. It provides a commonsense design methodology for developing databases that work. Database Design for Mere Mortals™, Second Edition, Database design expert Michael J. Hernandez has expanded his best-selling first edition, maintaining its hands-on approach and accessibility while updating its coverage and including even more examples and illustrations. This edition features a CD-ROM that includes diagrams of sample databases, as well as design guidelines, documentation forms, and examples of the database design process. This book will give you the knowledge and tools you need to create efficient and effective relational databases.

Today data mining is no longer thought of as a set of stand-alone techniques, far from the business applications, and used only by data mining specialists or statisticians. Integrating data mining with mainstream applications is becoming an important issue for e-business applications. To support this move to applications, data mining is now an extension of the relational databases that database administrators or IT developers use. They use data mining as they would use any other standard relational function that they manipulate. This IBM Redbooks publication positions the new DB2 data mining functions: Part 1 of this book helps business analysts and implementers to understand and position these new DB2 data mining functions. Part 2 provides examples for implementers on how to easily and quickly integrate the data mining functions in business applications to enhance them. And part 3 helps database administrators and IT developers to configure these functions once to prepare them for use and integration in any application. Please note that the additional material referenced in the text is not available from IBM.

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.

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days, Fourth Edition provides a sold foundation in understanding the fundamentals of SQL (Structured Query Language). SQL is the query language used by relational databases such a Oracle, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft SQL Server. The new edition covers object-oriented programming with SQL, ODBC, JDBC, embedded SQL, accessing remote databases, and constructs. All new examples based on an open source database such as MySQL enhance this new edition by making the examples readily useable for readers.

Concise and practical, this indispensable volume brings the world’s most popular Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), its query language SQL, and its programming language PL/SQL into clear focus for today’s busy database professional or business analyst. Covering the most commonly used Oracle features, is ideal for the developer or business user challenged with implementing, maintaining, and retrieving mission-critical data within the Oracle database environment. Oracle SQL and PL/SQL Handbook Broadly designed as both a basic reference and how-to, this book offers extensive coverage of Oracle’s SQL language and database concepts, providing an excellent review for the Oracle certification exams. The initial chapters offer a complete introduction to the relational database environment, including a discussion of how to use the logical data model to understand the database. Oracle database objects are explored, along with uses of the Data Definition Language (DDL), the Data Control Language (DCL), and the Data Manipulation Language (DML). Later chapters offer complete coverage of the Select command used to retrieve information from the database. Also included are coverage of Oracle’s new analytic functions, a chapter on performance-tuning techniqes needed for complex SQL, and a detailed overview of Oracle’s PL/SQL language. In addition, many chapters provide practice questions designed to reinforce newly introduced concepts, as well as numerous examples of SQL techniques. The broad-based and comprehensive coverage also includes: Understanding the database using entity relationship diagrams and database schema diagrams Applying the Data Definition, Data Control, and Data Manipulation languages to create and maintain the database Using the SQL language to retrieve information from the database Creating special business information using Oracle’s new analytic functions Making your SQL perform better with common troubleshooting techniques Producing business information with business objects Using Java with PL/SQL Authoritative and practical, provides today’s administrator and business analyst alike with the most comprehensive sourcebook of solutions and techniques for improving their use of Oracle. Oracle SQL and PL/SQL Handbook 0201752948B07152002

What do eBay, Amazon.com and CNN.com have in common? They're all applications that integrate large databases with the Web. The popularity (and power) of these applications stems from their accessibility and usability: thousands of users can access the same data at the same time without theneed to install any additional software on their computers. Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL offers web developers a mixture of theoretical and practical information on creating web database applications. Using PHP, and MySQL, two open source technologies that are often combined to develop web applications, the book offers detailed information on designing relational databases and on web application architecture, both of which will be useful to readers who have never dealt with these issues before. The book also introduces Hugh and Dave's Online Wines, a complete (but fictional) online retail site that allows users to browse, search a database, add items to a shopping cart, manage their membership, and purchase wines. Using this site as an example, the book shows you how to implement searching and browsing, store user data, validate user input, manage transactions, and maintain security. If you want to build small to medium-scale web database applications that can run on modest hardware and process more than a million hits a day from users, this book will show you how.

Arguably the most capable of all the open source databases, PostgreSQL is an object-relational database management system first developed in 1977 by the University of California at Berkeley. In spite of its long history, this robust database suffers from a lack of easy-to-use documentation. Practical PostgreSQL fills that void with a fast-paced guide to installation, configuration, and usage. This comprehensive new volume shows you how to compile PostgreSQL from source, create a database, and configure PostgreSQL to accept client-server connections. It also covers the many advanced features, such as transactions, versioning, replication, and referential integrity that enable developers and DBAs to use PostgreSQL for serious business applications. The thorough introduction to PostgreSQL's PL/pgSQL programming language explains how you can use this very useful but under-documented feature to develop stored procedures and triggers. The book includes a complete command reference, and database administrators will appreciate the chapters on user management, database maintenance, and backup & recovery. With Practical PostgreSQL, you will discover quickly why this open source database is such a great open source alternative to proprietary products from Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft.

PostgreSQL is an object-relational database server that is widely considered to be the world¿s most advanced open-source database system. It is ANSI SQL-compatible, and it offers powerful features to enable more complex software design than would be possible with relational databases that are not object-oriented. PostgreSQL is extremely modular, it supports a large number of datatypes, and programming interfaces for PostgreSQL are available for all important programming languages, including C, Perl, Python, Tcl, Java, and PHP. PostgreSQL Developer¿s Handbook provides a complete overview of the PostgreSQL database server and extensive coverage of its core features, including object orientation, PL/pgSQL, and the most important programming interfaces. The book introduces the reader to the language and syntax of PostgreSQL and then moves quickly into advanced programming topics.

This book is a hands-on tutorial for Access users who want to learn Access by working through solid examples. It will show the reader how to use Access and how to develop solid databases from start to finish. The focus of the book will be Access databases on the desktop but will have two chapters on implementing Access in a networked or client/server environment. Key topics include understanding relational databases and the Access 2002 architecture; designing, building, and maintaining full-feature, robust database applications; implementing Data Access Pages; working with Visual Basic for Applications and the Visual Basic Editor; and publishing Access content to the WWW or a company's intranet.

This IBM Redbooks publication is designed to assist Oracle Database administrators and system/storage administrators with Oracle backup solutions using Tivoli Storage Manager V4.1. The primary tool we used for backup and recovery is Tivoli Data Protection (TDP) for Oracle V1.1, and the book covers setup and configuration of TDP as well as day-to-day management examples. Operating environments covered by the project are AIX, Sun Solaris, and Microsoft Windows 2000. We provide an overview of relational database management systems and how to plan for protecting them. This book will help you install, tailor, and configure Tivoli Storage Manager and Tivoli Data Protection for Oracle on UNIX and Microsoft Windows 2000 platforms in order to accomplish backup and restore of Oracle8i databases. RMAN commands and setup are covered in detail, and emphasis is placed on practical recovery scenarios. Also featured are new solutions utilizing Tivoli's hardware integration features for IBM's ESS intelligent storage subsystem, as well as an update on using TDP for Oracle V2.2 new features. Note: This book replaces relevant sections of the earlier book, Using ADSM to Back Up Databases, SG24-4335-03, by updating and re-branding the content of that book.

Oracle & Open Source is the first book to tie together the commercial world of Oracle and the free-wheeling world of open source software. As this book reveals, these two worlds are not as far apart as they may seem. Today, there are many excellent and freely available software tools that Oracle developers and database administrators can use, at no cost, to improve their own coding productivity and their system's performance. Moreover, many of the finest Oracle developers are now making their source code freely available so their peers can build upon this code base. Oracle Corporation is even porting its RDBMS to Linux and starting to incorporate a growing number of open source tools in the company's own software. Oracle & Open Source describes close to 100 open source tools you can use for Oracle development and database administration, from large and widely known open source systems (like Linux, Perl, Apache, TCL/Tk and Python) to more Oracle-specific tools (like Orasoft, Orac, OracleTool, and OraSnap). You'll learn how to obtain the software and how to adapt it to best advantage. The book abounds with code examples, download and installation instructions, and helpful usage hints. Not only does it tell you how to find and use existing open source code; Oracle & Open Source gives you the details and the motivation to build your own open source contributions and release them to the Oracle community. You'll learn all about tools like the Oracle Call Interface (OCI) and Perl-DBI (Database Interface), which provide the glue allowing new open source tools to link into commercial Oracle software. With Oracle & Open Source as a guide, you'll discover an enormous number of highly effective open source tools, while getting involved with the thriving community of open source development.

SQL (Structured Query Language) is the heart of a relational database management system. It's the language used to query the database, to create new tables in the database, to update and delete database fields, and to set privileges in the database. Oracle SQL: The Essential Reference is for everyone who needs to access an Oracle database using SQL--developers, DBAs, designers, and managers. SQL is based on research dating back to the late 1960s, but its first commercial release was in the RDBMS announced by the fledgling Oracle Corporation in 1979. Since that time, every other database vendor has adopted SQL, and ANSI and the ISO have made it a standard. Although vendors diverge in their extensions to SQL, the core language is standard across vendor boundaries. Despite SQL's long history and relative simplicity, few developers and database administrators are truly masters of SQL. The constant stream of vendor enhancements, the hard-won experience in tuning SQL for best performance, and the requirements of particular operational environments mean that there is always more to learn about SQL. Oracle SQL: The Essential Reference delivers all the information needed to keep ahead of the learning curve on standard SQL and Oracle's extensions to it. This single, concise reference volume will hold its own against a stack of Oracle manuals and even yield insights and examples not available in those manuals. There are chapters on basic SQL elements (naming requirements, column types, pseudo-types, data conversion rules, operators); Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Manipulation Language (DML); common language elements (constraints, storage clause, predicates); SQL functions; PL/SQL (including procedures, functions, and packages); SQL*Plus, and Oracle SQL optimization and tuning. The book covers Oracle 8 i, release 8.1.6.

High-value solutions for integrating enterprise and legacy systems XML, Enterprise JavaAPIs, and much more Techniques for building flexible, extensible EIA solutions Easy-to-read, fully-documented code throughout CD-ROM includes leading-edge software and code library for XML/Java integration! "XML is the amazing new web standard for universal data interchange. With this book and XML you can integrate your applications without converting the code!" —Charles F. Goldfarb Integrate your enterprise with XML and Java! Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) links diverse applications, platforms, and operating systems so they work as one-and deliver powerful business results seamlessly. Platform-independent Java is one powerful tool for building EAI applications, and XML adds the missing link: robust mechanisms to exchange data with non-Java applications. Now there's a complete, step-by-step guide to using Java and XML together to deliver enterprise integration solutions that work! Enterprise Application Integration With XML and Java covers all this, and more: Demonstrating why XML is such a powerful EAI infrastructure solution Identifying your key requirements for sharing and exchanging data Building robust, high-performance Java applications for parsing and processing XML documents Moving data between Java and non-Java applications Integrating XML with relational databases Serializing Java objects into XML, and asynchronous messaging with XML Providing convenient references to XML 1.0 grammar and the W3C Document Object Model Whether you're a technical manager planning for enterprise application integration, or a Java developer tasked with delivering it, Enterprise Application Integration With XML and Java delivers the in-depth solutions and real-world expertise you need. CD-ROM INCLUDED The CD-ROM contains extensive source code from the book, plus a remarkable library of leading-edge software and trialware, including: Bluestone Visual-XML desktop XML development environment; IBM XML4J Java-based parser; and Push-technologies SpiritWAVE2 implementation of the Java Messaging Service!

Any organization that uses the Oracle relational database management system (RDBMS) these days needs to use multiple databases. There are many reasons to use more than a single database in a distributed database system: Different databases may be associated with particular business functions, such as manufacturing or human resources. Databases may be aligned with geographical boundaries, such as a behemoth database at a headquarters site and smaller databases at regional offices. Two different databases may be required to access the same data in different ways, such as an order entry database whose transactions are aggregated and analyzed in a data warehouse. A busy Internet commerce site may create multiple copies of the same database to attain horizontal scalability. A copy of a production database may be created to serve as a development test bed. Tunability Platform autonomy Fault tolerance Scalability Location transparency Site autonomy Introduction to Distributed Database Systems SQLNet and Net8 Configuration and Administration Distributed Database Security Designing the Distributed System Oracle's Distributed System Implementation Sample Configurations 8. Engineering Considerations Oracle Replication Architecture Advanced Replication Option Installation Basic Replication Multi-Master Replication Updateable Snapshots Procedural Replication Conflict Avoidance and Resolution Techniques In a distributed database environment, data in two or more databases is accessible as if it were in a single database. Usually, the different databases are on different servers, which may be located at the same site or a continent away. Communication between the servers takes place via SQLNet (for Oracle7) or Net8 (for Oracle8). Distributed database environments offer a number of benefits over single- database systems, including: This book describes how you can use multiple databases and the distributed features of Oracle to best advantage. It covers: Table of contents: Part I: The Distributed System Part II: Replication Part III: Appendixes Appendix A: Built-in Packages for Distributed Systems Appendix B: Scripts

Security in a relational database management system is complex, and too few DBAs, system administrators, managers, and developers understand how Oracle implements system and database security. This book gives you the guidance you need to protect your databases. Oracle security has many facets: Establishing an organization's security policy and plan Protecting system files and passwords Controlling access to database objects (tables, views, rows, columns, etc.) Building appropriate user profiles, roles, and privileges Monitoring system access via audit trails Oracle and Security Oracle System Files Oracle Database Objects The Oracle Data Dictionary Default Roles and User Accounts Profiles, Passwords, and Synonyms Developing a Database Security Plan Installing and Starting Oracle Developing a Simple Security Application Developing an Audit Plan Developing a Sample Audit Application Backing Up and Recovering a Database Using the Oracle Enterprise Manager Maintaining User Accounts Using the Oracle Security Server Using the Internet and the Web Using Extra-Cost Options Oracle Security describes how these basic database security features are implemented and provides many practical strategies for securing Oracle systems and databases. It explains how to use the Oracle Enterprise Manager and Oracle Security Server to enhance your site's security, and it touches on such advanced security features as encryption, Trusted Oracle, and various Internet and World Wide Web protection strategies. A table of contents follows: Preface Part I: Security in an Oracle System Part II: Implementing Security Part III: Enhanced Oracle Security Appendix A. References

Oracle is the most popular database management system in use today, and PL/SQL plays a pivotal role in current and projected Oracle products and applications. PL/SQL is a programming language providing procedural extensions to the SQL relational database language and to an ever-growing number of oracle development tools. originally a rather limited tool, PL/SQL became with Oracle7 a mature and effective language for developers. now, with the introduction of Oracle8, PL/SQL has taken the next step towards becoming a fully realized programming language providing sophisticated object-oriented capabilities. Steven Feuerstein's Oracle PL/SQL Programming is a comprehensive guide to building applications with PL/SQL. That book has become the bible for PL/SQL developers who have raved about its completeness, readability, and practicality. Built-in packages are collections of PL/SQL objects built by Oracle Corporation and stored directly in the Oracle database. The functionality of these packages is available from any programming environment that can call PL/SQL stored procedures, including Visual Basic, Oracle Developer/2000, Oracle Application Server (for web-based development), and, of course, the Oracle database itself. Built-in packages extend the capabilities and power of PL/SQL in many significant ways. for example: DBMS_SQL executes dynamically constructed SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks of code. DBMS_PIPE communicates between different Oracle sessions through a pipe in the RDBMS shared memory. DBMS_JOB submits and manages regularly scheduled jobs for execution inside the database. DBMS_LOB accesses and manipulates Oracle8's large objects (LOBs) from within PL/SQL programs. 1. Introduction Executing Dynamic SQL and PL/SQL Intersession Communication User Lock and Transaction Management Oracle Advanced Queuing Generating Output from PL/SQL Programs Defining an Application Profile Managing Large Objects Datatype Packages Miscellaneous Packages Managing Session Information Managing Server Resources Job Scheduling in the Database Snapshots Advanced Replication Conflict Resolution Deferred Transactions and Remote Procedure Calls The first edition of Oracle PL/SQL Programming contained a chapter on Oracle's built-in packages. but there is much more to say about the basic PL/SQL packages than Feuerstein could fit in his first book. In addition, now that Oracle8 has been released, there are many new Oracle8 built-in packages not described in the PL/SQL book. There are also packages extensions for specific oracle environments such as distributed database. hence this book. Oracle Built-in Packages pulls together information about how to use the calling interface (API) to Oracle's Built-in Packages, and provides extensive examples on using the built-in packages effectively. The windows diskette included with the book contains the companion guide, an online tool developed by RevealNet, Inc., that provides point-and-click access to the many files of source code and online documentation developed by the authors. The table of contents follows: Preface Part I: Overview Part II: Application Development Packages Part III: Server Management Packages Part IV: Distributed Database Packages Appendix. What's on the companion disk?

The books in O'Reilly's Oracle series are authoritative -- they tell the whole story about complex topics, ranging from performance tuning to the use of packages in PL/SQL to new technologies like Power Objects. And they're independent; they're alternatives for readers who need to know how products and features really work. They're packed with real-world advice and techniques from practitioners in the field, and they come with disks containing code you can use immediately in your own applications. O'Reilly is the alternative for Oracle people who need to solve problems -- and solve them now.Performance tuning is crucial in any modern relational database management system. Too many organizations respond to Oracle performance problems by throwing money at these problems -- by buying larger and more expensive computers or by hiring expert consultants. But there's a lot you can do on your own to increase dramatically the performance of your existing system. Whatever version of Oracle you're running -- from Version 6 to Oracle8, proper tuning can save your organization a huge amount of money in additional equipment, extra memory, and hardware upgrades.The first edition of Oracle Performance Tuning became a classic for programmers, managers, database administrators, system administrators, and anyone who cares about improving the performance of an Oracle system. This second edition contains 400 pages of updated material updating on Oracle features, incorporating advice about disk striping and mirroring, RAID, client-server, distributed databases, MPPS, SMPs, and other architectures. It also includes chapters on parallel server, parallel query, backup and recovery, the Oracle Performance Pack, and more.