Ben Forta

Sams Teach Yourself Oracle PL/SQL In 10 Minutes

Sams Teach Yourself Oracle PL/SQL In 10 Minutes

ISBN: 0672328666

Pages: 274

Publisher: Sams – October 1, 2015

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Oracle is one of the most deployed and used database management systems. A powerful and sophisticated database platform, Oracle powers some of the biggest and most complex data repositories in the world. Oracle’s implementation of the SQL language is called PL/SQL, and to effectively leverage Oracle, a good understanding of PL/SQL is a must.

This book is based on my best-selling Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes. That book has become one of the most used SQL tutorials in the world, with an emphasis on teaching what you really need to know, methodically, systematically, and simply. But as popular and as successful as that book it, it does have some limitations:

  • In covering all of the major DBMSs, coverage of DBMS specific features and functionality had to be kept to a minimum.
  • To simplify the SQL taught, the lowest common denominator had to be found, SQL statements that would (as much as possible) work with all major DBMSs. This requirement necessitated that better DBMS specific solutions not be covered.
  • While basic SQL tends to be rather portable between DBMSs, more advanced SQL most definitely is not. As such, that book could not cover advanced topics like triggers, cursors, stored procedures, access control, transactions, and more, in any real detail.

And that is where this book comes in. Sams Teach Yourself Oracle PL/SQL in 10 Minutes builds on the proven tutorials and structure of Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes, without getting bogged down with anything but PL/SQL. Starting with simple data retrieval and working on to more complex topics including the use of joins, subqueries, regular expression and full text based searches, stored procedures, cursors, triggers, table constraints, and much more. You’ll learn what you need to know methodically, systematically, and simply – in 26 highly focused lessons designed to make you immediately and effortlessly productive.

Is this book right for you? This is a beginner-intermediate book, and is not intended for SQL or PL/SQL experts. This book is for you if:

  • You are new to SQL.
  • You are just getting started with Oracle and PL/SQL and want to hit the ground running.
  • You want to quickly learn how to get the most out of PL/SQL.
  • You want to learn how to use PL/SQL in your own application development.
  • You want to be productive quickly and easily using PL/SQL without having to call someone for help.

If you want to invest minimal time (and cost) for a crash course on one of the most important DBMSs out there, then this book is indeed for you.

Note: This title was written for use with Oracle versions 10, 11, and 12 (including Oracle Express Edition). Much of the content will also be applicable to earlier versions of Oracle, but specific client instructions may not be.

Chapter listing

  • Introduction
  • 1: Understanding SQL
  • 2: Getting Started With Oracle And PL/SQL
  • 3: Working with Oracle
  • 4: Retrieving Data
  • 5: Sorting Retrieved Data
  • 6: Filtering Data
  • 7: Advanced Data Filtering
  • 8: Using Wildcard Filtering
  • 9: Searching Using Regular Expressions
  • 10: Creating Calculated Fields
  • 11: Using Data Manipulation Functions
  • 12: Summarizing Data
  • 13: Grouping Data
  • 14: Working with Subqueries
  • 15: Joining Tables

  • 16: Creating Advanced Joins
  • 17: Combining Queries
  • 18: Inserting Data
  • 19: Updating and Deleting Data
  • 20: Creating and Manipulating Tables
  • 21: Using Views
  • 22: Working with Stored Procedures
  • 23: Using Cursors
  • 24: Using Triggers
  • 25: Managing Transaction Processing
  • 26: Managing Security
  • Appendix A: The Example Tables
  • Appendix B: Oracle PL/SQL Datatypes
  • Appendix C: Oracle PL/SQL Keywords And Reserved Words

Translations

Supporting Resources

The Example Tables

Appendix A: The Example Tables describes the database tables used in the examples in this book, and Lesson 3 Working with Oracle describes how to create and populate the tables. You may download database tables creation and population scripts here: