Sams Teach Yourself Pl/SQL in 21 Days Subsequent Edition

There are managers that think that "everything" can be done using PL/SQL. Well it can do lots of things, but as a programmer you will quickly find it's short comings. This book is a cvery handy tool when you are trying to do things you have never tried before.

I'm returning this book because it's based on Oracle 8! We are migrating to Oracle 11 and I really need something much more up-to-date than a 10 year-old book. Unfortunately, neither Amazon or the the book cover make any hint or reference to applying to Oracle 8.

This book is not the best option for a newbie or for someone without access to Oracle. (***From page 12, you need an Oracle database and SQL*Plus to complete the exercises.)The book is written in a way that the material doesn't make sense without the hands-on. I see that the text includes a lot of exercises but I don't see screen shots.Last, my text actually seemed photocopied on the inside--the grayscale art seemed like it was fresh from the copy shop...not exactly what I expected.I wouldn't but this book again.

I generally agree with the other reviewers on this book - despite some errors, it is a solid set of PL/SQL lessons. Great results can be produced by using the book as designed (download a copy of Personal Oracle, and spend three hours a day hacking the &@:=#! out of it). However, these favorable reviews can be misleading, as they lack a "Who is this book for?" section. Unlike many "Teach Yourself" titles, this is not good reading for the absolute novice. To get the most from this book, you should have:1. Functional and theoretical knowledge of at least one high-level programming language.2. A good understanding of database theory and terminology.3. Some experience with SQL (and ideally with Oracle, but if you can make Access do tricks, you'll be fine).4. Three weeks off. ;-)

At least half of the code examples I tried would not run. It is really frustrating to have a training guide where you cannot trust any of the examples to be coded correctly. I am amazed anyone would give this book a positive rating.

This book is pretty good. Each of the 21 lessons takes a couple of hours to read, so the pace is about right. I learned a lot of PL/SQL from this book, so I'm glad I bought it.The book is pooly edited, though, and is full of errors. A couple of times there were serious errors in the example programs, but they weren't enough to spoil the book.If you have a little programming experience, you might try just using the PL/SQL chapters in the Oracle8: The Complete Reference. You're going to need a book like that anyway....

If you, like me, are distracted by printing errors and mistakes, then do not buy this book. Wait for a (much?) later printing. I cannot learn from such a book. This is one of the most disappointing book buys I have made.

This book starts out badly. It was hard enough finishing it! The instructions to install the software was completely incorrect - I had to scavenge the CD for a compiler.Then it was finally programming time. Day one.... Passes ok. Day 2... uh oh! Return0? Unknown function? Jesse had better have an explanation for this one. "You remember this? Ok, take it and go there where the other thing is and you see that thing happen again." After reading the book, I wasn't sure if Jesse knew C++ or was making up his own little code.Don't get this book. It's errors will confuse you.