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Summary: Tom speaks - Oracle Community listens
Review: Atleast I have around 25 oracle books. I cherish the ones written by authors like Steve Adams, Jonathan lewis, Gaja Vaidyanatha. But this man ( sorry, Oracle God) Tom Kyte stands very tall even in elite company. I have read and re-read and re-read this book. It is information packed in every sentence. THE BEST ORACLE BOOK PRODUCED TILL DATE. PERIOD...
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Summary: Great examples!
Review: This is a great book for learning by example. The text is clear and each example is illustrated with code listings.
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Summary: Good book
Review: The book was outstanding and I enjoyed the topics covered and the simplicity. There were typos here and there that should be ignored.I higly recommend this book. Make sure you start with "Beginning Oracle" before delving into this one.
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Summary: Fabulous!
Review: I've been developing database applications for quite a few years now, and most of the times I got away without really understanding what went on under the Oracle server's figurative "hood". When I started reading Tom's book however, I started to understand how to develop 'performant' and 'scalable' code, and started appreciating the complex architecture and various features provided in Oracle. It's the first (and most likely only) book I will recommend to all Oracle developers, new and seasoned, and to DBAs wanting to understand Oracle in no-nonsense language. On a personal note, it revitalized my passion for developing database applications. Thanks Tom!
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Summary: Best Oracle book on the planet
Review: I have just to say that i 100% agree with all the five-stars reviews on this book - since they have dissected the book from every possible perspective, I have only to add that this is by far the best book on Oracle that I own - and I own 15+ of them. This book and Jonathan Lewis' "Practical Oracle 8i" are the only books that I carry with me every day when I commute to work, even if their combined weight is more than 2.7 kg and I'm probably the physically-laziest human on the planet. But their helping me in shading light on some Oracle feature in minutes in countless occasions is invaluable - not to mention that they *explain* how Oracle works, which is something that any serious Oracle professional will surely appreciate, and that separates both books from the crowd.
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Summary: Simply awesome book about the Oracle 8i RDBMS engine
Review: I'm an Oracle DBA with 13 years experience, beginning with version 5 of the database (remember those MS-DOS floppies?). About Tom Kyte: Tom is an acknowledged expert in the field; he is Vice President of the Core Technologies Group at Oracle. His web site is a terrific alternative source of information about Oracle. He also publishes the "Ask Tom" column in Oracle Magazine. Tom Kyte's book is simply awesome. Every time I read another chunk of it, I learn something new. His depth and breadth of understanding is amazing. (If you think you are an Oracle expert, buy the book. You'll be amazed at how much more Tom can teach you.) His troubleshooting is really good too. He seems to know all of the places where people encounter problems with specific features, and includes great troubleshooting information where appropriate. If you're hesitant to buy the book because it doesn't have "9i" stamped on it, buy it anyway! Believe me, you won't regret it! Remember: 9i is a superset of 8i, and a good understanding of 8i functionality will help you understand most of 9i too. I also had the privilege of meeting Tom in person, during an Oracle 9iR2 presentation. He is a very generous with his time, but also perpetually busy answering questions on his web site (he was connected with a laptop and cell phone before he started the presentation). I asked him about the time it took to write the book, and he acknowledged that it took a major chunk out of his life. Be thankful that there is a person as knowledgable as Tom who is so willing to help the rest of us get up to speed!!
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Summary: From a developer's perspective: strongly recommended
Review: As I mention in the title, I rate this book from a developer's perspective not a DBA's: My Oracle experience is usually Java/J2EE/JDBC and little PL/SQL programming. When I first saw this book, I thought it to be a DBA reference book. Then I started picking up chapters and reading: I was amazed with the quality of information and suprised how blindly I before was working with the Oracle database. Why my query was so slow? why my index didn't help? Why transaction isolation level was so critical? and so on. I found answers to my questions in this book. In this book, Tom explains internals of Oracle database, detailing and emphasizing critical points, and helping us to understand how we can use the Oracle database correctly and efficiently. Topics range from DBA topics like configuration, data loading, partioning to those which programmers can benefit as well: Optimization, indexes, transactions, tables etc. This book is not a book about SQL, database design or database theory. It's all about getting the best out of an Oracle database. I strongly recommend it to any programmer developing software interacting with an Oracle database. SQL, general database knowledge, and basic Oracle knowledge is almost mandatory for reading (One should know what trigger, view, transaction, schema, index etc. are before starting the book). With this book, "Expert One on One" series of Wrox seems to make a very good start.
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Summary: Not the Wrox Professional Series
Review: This book is very good, but it is not comparable to the other Wrox Professional books. This is one step beyond that. The Professional books are geared toward professional developers that want to know more about the technology. This books is definitely for people that understand Oracle and have worked with it, but want to get to the heart of it. I was amazed by the section on oracle's sql and what can be done with that. I loved that chapter.
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Summary: Worth its weight in Gold
Review: No doubt. This book is priceless. Written clearly with great descriptions. I am eagerly waiting for more books by Tom.
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Summary: Good Stuff Here
Review: This is great Oracle book. I like Kytes approach and he cuts right to the chase about every subject. The book is huge but there is no fluff or verbal stuffing. Everything said is pertinent to the subject. This is fine how-to book and a quick start on those 8i features that you don't get a chance to use. Kyte has already done the expermenting for you and makes the details clear.
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