Obsessed with Oracle PL/SQL

Just getting started with PL/SQL? You will find PL/SQL to be a very readable and accessible programming language. You'll be productive in a very short amount of time! I offer this post as a quick way to access a number of resources that will provide a nicely-paced introduction to this powerful database programming language. Of course, it helps a lot  to know SQL, too, so check out the Other Useful Links at the bottom of the post. I wrote a series of "PL/SQL 101" articles for Oracle Magazine several years ago. Here's a convenient index to all those articles: 1. Building with Blocks  - an overview of PL/SQL, followed by coverage of some fundamentals 2.  Controlling the Flow of Execution  - conditional statements and loops 3.  Working with Strings 4.  Working with Numbers 5.  Working with Dates 6.  Error Management 7.  Working with Records 8.  Working with Collections 9.  Bulk Processing with BULK COLLECT and FORALL 10...

By "Oracle Database development", I mean, more or less, writing SQL and PL/SQL. I assume in this post that you have access to Oracle Database (which you can get via Cloud services, Docker , GitHub and OTN ). A. Use a powerful IDE, designed with database programming in mind. There are lots of editors out there, and many IDEs that work with Oracle Database. Sure, you could use Notepad, but OMG the productivity loss. You could also use a popular editor like Sublime, and then it get it working with Oracle. I suggest, however, that you  download  and install Oracle's own own, free, powerful IDE: SQL Developer . If you like to complement your graphical IDE with a command line tool (or OMG if you actually prefer  a command line tool to a graphical interface), you should also check out the relatively new and generating-lots-of-excitement SQLcl . B. Enable compile-time warnings and PL/Scope. The database has tons of useful functionality burned right into it, ready for...

Got this email Monday from a fellow new to PL/SQL and Oracle: I have been in I.T. for a couple of years but always had this feeling that I could do better. I lost that hunger when the company I had worked for 10 years plucked me from the warehouse as a kind of internal promotion program. I guess you could say I slowly settled into a rut.    I discovered your site recently and I am in the process of reviewing your tutorial videos (I have also started to read newer technical books). I am sure you have been told before but your tutorial videos are great!    My problem is that I think the lessons would "stick" with me more if I had the chance to work with them and "play" around.   I have very low self esteem (which I am also working on) so please don't laugh but is there a place that I can download a condensed or tutorial version of Oracle 11g? First, I am always excited to hear from people who are just getting into Oracle Database, SQL and PL/SQL. Our part...

I just received this question in my In Box: "Which book do you recommend for people, brand new to PL/SQL? Assume the user is already familiar with SQL and now wants to start programming in Oracle." First, I must confess that I spend too little time thinking about and being in contact with developers who are brand-new to PL/SQL. That is something I need to and plan to correct, especially given that when I search on "PL/SQL" in search engines, 3-4 of the top 10 hits are for tutorial sites. There is clearly a demand. Until I put together my own set of tutorials, however, I thought I would offer the following: Books Oracle PL/SQL for Dummies Written by my good friends and really outstanding Oracle technologists, Michael Rosnblum and Paul Dorsey of Dulcian. These guys really know their stuff and have put together an accessible text. Learning Oracle PL/SQL Written primarily by my co-author on the massive Oracle PL/SQL Programming , Bill Pribyl, this book i...