[...]... the SQL language By the way, Oracle SQL Reference contains an Appendix B, Oracle and Standard SQL, ” discussing the differences between the ANSI/ISO SQL standard and the Oracle SQL implementation xvii xviii ■INTRODUCTION The SQL and SQL* Plus commands are explained with concrete examples The examples are presented clearly in a listing format, as in the example shown here Listing I-1 A SQL SELECT Command... the SQL language, followed by an introduction to SQL* Plus and iSQL*Plus, the two most obvious environments to execute SQL statements interactively In Chapter 11, we revisit SQL* Plus That chapter covers some more advanced SQL* Plus features, such as using substitution variables, stored scripts, reporting, and working with HTML Data definition is covered in two nonconsecutive chapters: Chapter 3 and Chapter... advanced SQL* Plus and iSQL*Plus features Oracle is an object-relational database management system Since Oracle8 , many objectoriented features have been added to the SQL language As an introduction to these features, Chapter 12 provides a high-level overview of user-defined datatypes, arrays, nested tables, and multiset operators The five appendices at the end of this book offer a SQL* Plus and SQL quick... yourself by querying the online Oracle documentation Oracle SQL Reference offers a section titled Oracle Database 10g New Features in the SQL Reference” at the end of the introduction, preceding Chapter 1 I follow the ANSI/ISO standard (SQL: 2003) as much as possible Only in cases of useful Oracle- specific SQL extensions do I deviate from this international standard Therefore, most SQL examples given in this... I-1 A SQL SELECT Command SQL> select 'Hello world!' 2 from dual; I focus on the main points, avoiding peripheral issues and technical details as much as possible This book does not intend (nor pretend) to be complete; the SQL language is too voluminous and the Oracle environment is much too complex Oracle SQL Reference contains about 1,800 pages these days, and even Oracle SQL Quick Reference is not... following terms were introduced: • Entities and attributes • Generic versus specific • Occurrences and attribute values 7 8 CHAPTER 1 ■ RELATIONAL DATABASE SYSTEMS AND ORACLE • Base data and derivable data • Redundancy and consistency • Integrity and constraints • Data modeling • Methods and techniques • Logical and physical design • Normalization • Prototyping and RAD • CASE tools • Semantics 1.3 Database... Technology Network, at http://www .oracle. com/technology/documentation If you want to install Oracle Database 10g on a different operating system, you can download the Oracle software for various platforms from OTN at http://www .oracle. com/technology/software/products/database /oracle1 0g CHAPTER 1 ■■■ Relational Database Systems and Oracle T he focus of this book is writing SQL in Oracle, which is a relational... included with this book This book is based on the following Oracle release: • Oracle Database 10g for Windows (or Red Hat Linux) Release 10.1.0.x Although this book assumes an Oracle Database 10g environment, you can also use it with Oracle9 i or even with Oracle8 i However, Oracle is adding new SQL syntax with every new release; therefore, some SQL syntax examples could fail when issued against these earlier... he served for ten years at Oracle Corporation as one of the company’s leading system performance experts At Oracle, he also founded and served as vice president of the 80-person System Performance Group He has educated thousands of Oracle consultants, support analysts, developers, and customers in the optimal use of Oracle technology through commitment to writing, teaching, and speaking at public events... things right” from the very beginning, and Jocke helped me find the right balance between theory and practice Martin Jensen, one of my good old friends inside Oracle and an Oakie as well, provided precisely the feedback I needed from his impressive Oracle consulting background Stephen Cannan, my colleague in the Dutch national body for the SQL Standardization and the convenor of the international ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC32/WG3 .