Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference

The fourth edition of this popular pocket guide provides quick-reference information that will help you use Oracle's PL/SQL language, including the newest Oracle Database 11g features. It's a companion to Steven Feuerstein and Bill Pribyl's bestselling Oracle PL/SQL Programming.

This concise guide boils down the most vital PL/SQL information into an accessible summary of:

• Fundamental language elements (e.g., block structure, datatypes, declarations)
• Statements for program control, cursor management, and exception handling
• Records, procedures, functions, triggers, and packages
• Calling PL/SQL functions in SQL
• Compilation options, object-oriented features, collections, and Java integration

The new edition describes such Oracle Database 11g elements as PL/SQL's function result cache, compound triggers, the CONTINUE statement, the SIMPLE_INTEGER datatype, and improvements to native compilation, regular expressions, and compiler optimization (including intra-unit inlining). In addition, this book now includes substantial new sections on Oracle's built-in functions and packages.

When you need answers quickly, the Oracle PL/SQL Language Pocket Reference will save you hours of frustration.

Steven Feuerstein is considered one of the world's leading experts on the Oracle PL/SQL language. He is the author or coauthor of Oracle PL/SQL Programming, Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices, Oracle PL/SQL Programming: Guide to Oracle8i Features, Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook, Oracle Built-in Packages, Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages, and several pocket reference books (all from O'Reilly & Associates). Steven is a Senior Technology Advisor with Quest Software, has been developing software since 1980, and worked for Oracle Corporation from 1987 to 1992.

Bill Pribyl is the primary author of "Learning Oracle PL/SQL" and the coauthor of Oracle PL/SQL Programming and its companion pocket reference, all from O'Reilly Media. He is oddly proud of having used PL/SQL to write TCP/IP networking clients, tnsping callouts, near-realtime commodity price loaders, and transcendental functions. Bill, who holds a degree in physics from Rice University, is the former editor of the IOUG technical journal (Select) and former president of the South Central Oracle Users Group. At home with his family in Houston, Texas, Bill's current nonbillable titles include Webmaster for his neighborhood civic club, "IT Guy" for his son's Boy Scout troop, and Eucharistic Adoration Coordinator for his church. Visit Bill's firm at http://www.datacraft.com.

Chip Dawes has been building and maintaining systems on relational databases since 1988 and with Oracle since 1990. He is currently a consultant with D&D Technologies, a Chicago consultancy. He enjoys working with, lecturing on, and writing about Oracle database administration, client server application development, and Unix system administration. Chip is an Oracle Certified Professional and earned computer science and aerospace engineering degrees from St. Louis University.