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| Introduction | ||
| Ch. 1 | Programmatic and General Reference | 1 |
| Ch. 2 | SQL Command Reference | 39 |
| Ch. 3 | Special Views and Tables | 363 |
The Oracle database and the Structured Query Language (SQL) that it supports are complex and ever changing products that have grown increasingly complex and powerful over the years. This book is not an attempt to teach the new Database Administrator (DBA) everything she or he needs to know about how to administer an Oracle database. That would be an interesting book challenge, but not the one we wanted to tackle. Instead, we wrote the book we've both been wishing we had, but couldn't find anywhere. A simple reference to the Oracle version of SQL and some of the critical tables and views that the practicing Oracle DBA needs every day. This is a purely syntax reference, a quick way to get a reminder of what options a command takes and the exact syntax required.
Most Oracle DBAs spend probably 90% of their time doing less than 5% of the tasks possible with an Oracle database. They neither need nor want a book to give them the syntax for those commands they use every day. But for the commands they may only use once every six months or so, a little quick reminder can be helpful. And that's the purpose and intent of this book—to give the working DBA a little book that they can keep on their desktop or next to the server where they can quickly look up the syntax for the command they need, or find the right name for the view they know exists, but haven't had to use since the last time there was a problem.
As Oracle has grown from our first days with Oracle 6 to the complexity and power of Oracle 9i, the number of new commands, and options and modifiers to the old ones, has grown enormously. If you're like us, you know there are newoptions and ways to do things, but often need a quick reminder of the syntax or options available. We hope you'll find this book a useful tool for that.
This book is divided up into three basic sections:
A note on the syntax diagrams in Chapter 2. Certain clauses show up across a wide range of commands with no change in the syntax or options they support. In order to keep the diagrams as simple as possible, we have grouped those clauses at the end of the chapter under "Common." The clauses covered there are:
Within each command, we have broken out the syntax for the less common clauses immediately following the main command. This enables a simpler and more readable diagram while providing full information. We have underlined the names of subordinate clauses in the diagrams to make it clear that you need to break out of the main diagram for the syntax to that clause.
We have made every attempt in this short volume to provide as complete a reference as we could, always with the goal of keeping it quick and easy to find the information you need. Our goal was to give the working Oracle DBA a tool that would make them more productive and we sincerely hope you find it useful. Every effort has been made to be both complete and accurate. If you do find an error or omission or have any comment on the book, we very much want to hear from you.
The Oracle database and the Structured Query Language (SQL) that it supports are complex and ever changing products that have grown increasingly complex and powerful over the years. This book is not an attempt to teach the new Database Administrator (DBA) everything she or he needs to know about how to administer an Oracle database. That would be an interesting book challenge, but not the one we wanted to tackle. Instead, we wrote the book we've both been wishing we had, but couldn't find anywhere. A simple reference to the Oracle version of SQL and some of the critical tables and views that the practicing Oracle DBA needs every day. This is a purely syntax reference, a quick way to get a reminder of what options a command takes and the exact syntax required.
Most Oracle DBAs spend probably 90% of their time doing less than 5% of the tasks possible with an Oracle database. They neither need nor want a book to give them the syntax for those commands they use every day. But for the commands they may only use once every six months or so, a little quick reminder can be helpful. And that's the purpose and intent of this book—to give the working DBA a little book that they can keep on their desktop or next to the server where they can quickly look up the syntax for the command they need, or find the right name for the view they know exists, but haven't had to use since the last time there was a problem.
As Oracle has grown from our first days with Oracle 6 to the complexity and power of Oracle 9i, the number of new commands, and options and modifiers to the old ones, has grown enormously. If you're like us, you know there are newoptions and ways to do things, but often need a quick reminder of the syntax or options available. We hope you'll find this book a useful tool for that.
This book is divided up into three basic sections:
A note on the syntax diagrams in Chapter 2. Certain clauses show up across a wide range of commands with no change in the syntax or options they support. In order to keep the diagrams as simple as possible, we have grouped those clauses at the end of the chapter under "Common." The clauses covered there are:
Within each command, we have broken out the syntax for the less common clauses immediately following the main command. This enables a simpler and more readable diagram while providing full information. We have underlined the names of subordinate clauses in the diagrams to make it clear that you need to break out of the main diagram for the syntax to that clause.
We have made every attempt in this short volume to provide as complete a reference as we could, always with the goal of keeping it quick and easy to find the information you need. Our goal was to give the working Oracle DBA a tool that would make them more productive and we sincerely hope you find it useful. Every effort has been made to be both complete and accurate. If you do find an error or omission or have any comment on the book, we very much want to hear from you. Please write us. We don't promise to answer every question or comment, but we do read them and very much appreciate them.
Anonymous
Posted Thu Jul 24 00:00:00 EDT 2003
Remember the early days of Oracle's products? Now we've reached the heights of Oracle 9i. How things are grown. The multiple table joins; the many obscure syntactical variants added by what are now centuries of person years of coding. Perhaps it is inevitable that any successful software will continually add refinements that increase its capabilities, but usually this is done at a concomitant loss of simplicity. Typically you as a database administrator will rarely use most features. But how to find the occasional rarity that you need, and have forgotten (or perhaps never knew)? By definition, the vendor's manuals are authoritative. But often these fall short in usability or pedagogy. (Oracle is by no means alone in this.) So here, Russel and Cordingley give you an independent, simple index into 9i. A quick perusal shows no index. But a second look shows that the entire book is really a graphical index into, and a refresher of, the command syntax. Like conventional indices, the book does not attempt to explain its entries. For example, on page 146, we see a graph for 'add hash substitution'. They assume you know what this means, but that you need a quick reminder of HOW to invoke it. Given that you have the database and its online help accessible (otherwise why would you need this book?), this is a fair assumption. Clearly, you can consult the online or hardcopy documentation for more information. The stress in the book is on simplicity. There is a little irony here. A database is a means whereby you can store data in a silo and easily get summaries and subsets ('views') of it. When you strip away the technical jargon, every database package aspires to this. If you regard the commands and capabilities of a database as data (or metadata), then you cannot usually change these. But how do you get summaries and views of THIS data? That is what the vendor's online help and documentation is all about. The irony about this book is not that it was written, but that it was not written by Oracle. The vendor's raison d'etre is to provide tools for access to information. But here, others have seen a need to write another tool to get at the vendor's own data.
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