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I really don't understand how could a such a book be written. For instance, in Chapters 3 and 4, it uses functions and procedures and other objects without providing any explanation for the benefit of those new to PL/SQL programming. For someone who is starting out with PL/SQL programming, I definitely would not recommend this book. This is A poorly written book. The programming examples used in the book are not explained in any detail. In places, even the naming scheme is confusing and requires an effort to comprehend.
[.]. I was able to find the examples by googling for one of the source file names. But does not provide a link to them. Hope it saves someone the time of having to search like I did. I read through the first 5 chapters of this book and did not find the link to the examples. On page 18 there's an entire paragraph or two that talks about the online examples. I've provided the link below.
Plus, there are plenty of references in the appendix, so those pages are essentially a "Nutshell."However, I think I prefer the layout of the 9i edition. There enough explanation to be thorough, and enough practical examples to be useful outside of pure theoretical discussion. In the 10g edition, the flow seems to have changed: a briefer description in paragraph form, then a lot more examples. I "subscribe" to this author and publisher for texts on this topic. I like the writing style and layout of the book. The flow was nicer: a structured outline, then some examples.
Will both be executed. And I would like to add that they don't seem to be terribly good writers, either.Some examples from the first three chapters (plus one page of chapter 4) to illustrate my point:On page 72, it reads: "Boolean variables, when combined with an IF-THEN block, do not need to be provided with a comparison value if only comparing to TRUE." First, Boolean variables aren't "combined" with an IF-THEN, they are *used* as part of the [Boolean] condition of the IF-THEN. For example, at the beginning of chapter 4 a list of topics for that chapter is given in bullet points, followed by the following recommendation:"As these features are demonstrated, think about how they can be used to improve the functionality, performance and design of your applications."It's suggestions like these that simply make my toes curl.Add to all this the absence of a decent structure (the books keeps jumping from simple features to advanced features and back, fragmenting the explanation of both), and the authors should consider themselves lucky I'm still giving this book 3 stars. Will only the first WHEN-statement block be executed. For several reasons, I don't expect this to be the case, but if it's not used, how is the 'CASE with different variables' treated. Will an exception be thrown. or something.
The most basic kind of loop, they include LOOP, END LOOP, and some method of EXIT." Since 'different types' of loops are discussed, the plurality in 'Simple loops' suggests that there are several types of simple loops --and it seems they are called the 'LOOP', and 'END LOOP'. Of course, this is not the case: there's only one type of simple loop. Come to think of it: in the example before it, what happens if the conditions in the CASE overlap. Loreti's review of this book, and one part in particular: this book was not written by educators. And second, writing that they don't need to be provided is, educationally speaking, not very wise; it suggests that it's a specific feature of the language, a short cut if you will, when in fact it's a mere consequence of how the evaluation of Boolean expressions work.On pages 108 and 109, I think it's a glaring omission that the writers don't mention whether the PL/SQL CASE statement uses 'fall-thru' or not. (E.g., change the second WHEN-condition tov_price BETWEEN 30 AND 50What happens then if v_price equals 35.
Less likely, but not impossible: maybe a compile-time error is given). It starts with the keyword LOOP which is followed by a statement block that may/should contain an EXIT statement, and it ends with the keywords END LOOP.You don't have to be a professional writer to sense that you can't end a section with a couple of bullet points (just like, apparently and unfortunately, you can't end a chapter without a useless summary) so you'll need at least an extra line of text, but unfortunately the writers of this book don't have the finesse to cross that bridge unnoticed. Let me start by stating that I agree with Frank N. In other words, in the example at the bottom of page 109, is only Steve printed, or all names. It's hard for me to understand how any decent programmer can overlook the fact that these 'details' need to be discussed.On page 110, loops are discussed: "We cover three different types here: Simple loops.
When I started studing PL/SQL.I got recommanded this book.Now I satisfied my choice because of contents of this book.I recommand this book.
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