[...]... techniques to make your SQL statements really fly xxv xxvi Oracle Database 11g SQL ■ Write Java programs to access an Oracle database using JDBC ■ Explore the XML capabilities of the Oracle database This book contains 17 chapters and one appendix Chapter 1: Introduction In this chapter, you’ll learn about relational databases, be introduced to SQL, see a few simple queries, use SQL* Plus and SQL Developer to... still supported in Oracle Database 11g for backward compatibility Chapter 15: Running SQL Using Java In this chapter, you’ll learn the basics of running SQL using Java through the Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) applications programming interface, which is the glue that allows a Java program to access a database xxviii Oracle Database 11g SQL Chapter 16: SQL Tuning You’ll see SQL tuning tips that... Master standard SQL, as well as the extensions developed by Oracle Corporation for use with the specific features of the Oracle database ■ Explore PL /SQL (Procedural Language /SQL) , which is built on top of SQL and enables you to write programs that contain SQL statements ■ Use SQL* Plus to execute SQL statements, scripts, and reports; SQL* Plus is a tool that allows you to interact with the database ■ Execute... for Oracle Database 11g A flashback data archive stores changes made to a table over a period of time Chapter 11: Introducing PL /SQL Programming In this chapter, you’ll explore PL /SQL, which is built on top of SQL and enables you to write stored programs in the database that contain SQL statements PL /SQL contains standard programming constructs Chapter 12: Database Objects You’ll learn how to create database. .. the database Appendix: Oracle Data Types This appendix shows the data types available in Oracle SQL and PL /SQL Intended Audience This book is suitable for the following readers: ■ Developers who need to write SQL and PL /SQL ■ Database administrators who need in-depth knowledge of SQL ■ Business users who need to write SQL queries to get information from their organization’s database ■ Technical managers... managers or consultants who need an introduction to SQL and PL /SQL No prior knowledge of the Oracle database, SQL, or PL /SQL is assumed; you can find everything you need to know to become a master in this book Retrieving the Examples All the SQL scripts, programs, and other files used in this book can be downloaded from the Oracle Press website at www.OraclePressBooks.com The files are contained in a... 439 440 443 443 443 xvii xviii Oracle Database 11g SQL Using Collections in PL /SQL Manipulating a Varray Manipulating a Nested Table PL /SQL Collection Methods Multilevel Collections Oracle Database 10g Enhancements to Collections... against a database ■ Create database tables, sequences, indexes, views, and users ■ Perform transactions containing multiple SQL statements ■ Define database object types and create object tables to handle advanced data ■ Use large objects to handle multimedia files containing images, music, and movies ■ Perform complex calculations using analytic functions ■ Use all the very latest Oracle Database 11g features... Database? Introducing the Structured Query Language (SQL) Using SQL* Plus Starting SQL* Plus Starting SQL* Plus from the Command Line Performing a SELECT Statement Using SQL* Plus SQL. .. Dropping a Trigger New Oracle Database 11g PL /SQL Features SIMPLE_INTEGER Type Sequences in PL /SQL PL /SQL Native Machine Code Generation Summary .