If you’ve seen Oracle Corporation’s recent media blitz, you’ve heard their claim "Oracle Software Powers the Internet." Dot-coms, corporations and government agencies have flocked to the Oracle standard in the last few years. As such, PL/SQL programmers are in hot demand. PL/SQL is Oracle’s proprietary extension to SQL. PL/SQL adds procedural and other constructs to SQL that make it suitable for writing applications. Not only is knowledge of PL/SQL essential for interaction with the RDBMS, it is also necessary for full use of Oracle’s Developer and Designer tools.

Cut to Steven Feuerstein, co-director of the Oracle Practice for SSC, a Chicago systems management consulting firm, and also a Senior Technology Officer for RevealNet. Feuerstein is generally recognized as an expert in PL/SQL (as well as a fascinating guy; visit www.stevenfeuerstein.com, to learn more about Steven).

"Oracle PL/SQL Programming" is one of several PL/SQL-related books authored by Feuerstein (see the footnote for links to his other books), and is an essential reference work for any PL/SQL library. The book is full of sample code, and also comes with a 3.5" disk full of source code and documentation.

Where the book excels is in its easy, narrative style, and focus on examples. This is where Feuerstein is at his best. Rather than becoming bogged down in lists of commands and their functions, Feuerstein offers numerous examples that our company’s programmers have found useful. If you’re looking for a good companion book, you might consider Scott Urman’s "PL/SQL Programming".

"Oracle PL/SQL Programming" is in-print and available from Amazon.com.

Steven R. DeNunzio
Picktown Consulting Group
www.picktown.com
Comments: denunzio@picktown.com