Learn PL/SQL

Back in 1994, I decided that I would write a book about Oracle's PL/SQL language. I thought I knew it pretty well and the demand for Oracle books was booming. I'm a very lucky guy. Oracle PL/SQL Programming was the first independent text on PL/SQL, and lots of people liked it a lot, and bought it in great numbers. That allowed me to focus pretty much exclusively on PL/SQL for the last fifteen years: studying it, playing with it, writing about it, and writing it - I write lots of code.

So I've learned a lot about PL/SQL - and now I would like to help you learn about PL/SQL. Of course, there's only so much I can do. You can't just read about a programming language - you have to write programs, test them, improve them, hook them up to user interfaces. But I will do what I can to help you be successful in all of these ventures.

First, I suggest you visit and take advantage of everything I've published at PL/SQL Obsession. That site, a part of Quest Software's Toad World, is my main cyberhome for PL/SQL resources, and I don't want to repeat things I have available there. To summarize, at PL/SQL Obsession you will find:

• A PL/SQL best practices video series
• Recommendations for PL/SQL coding standards
• All of my training and presentation materials, plus supporting code - all of which you have my permission to use in your own in-house training and development.
• My PL/SQL blog

Besides PL/SQL Obsession, you can learn much about PL/SQL from:

• AskTom, Tom Kyte's amazing portal for all things Oracle
• The Oracle Technology Network SQL-PL/SQL forum
• Adrian Billington's Oracle Developer site
• The AMIS Oracle blog