Tales Of The OakTable (TOTOT)

When going through all this literature about Oracle, I can't help being impressed and scared of the knowledge and complexity that is displayed.
The book mentioned in the title, was very insightful and I must say I enjoyed it. I found it easier to read, because it keeps referring to real-life examples, but don't be fooled. There are still plenty of details and knowledge in it, and many details that I can't completely comprehend.

As far as my personal progress goes I probably can't see what I've learned so clearly, because I keep being exposed to new areas of Oracle and realize how much I HAVEN'T learned yet :).
I've had another session with Thyge, where different areas were covered, and also a few practical exercises were given me. One was relating to the insert vs. insert /*+append*/ and nologging. How big of a difference does it make etc.
After that Thyge also gave me some "homework" regarding restore of a DB. I must admit that I haven't completed that task yet. My first attempt rendered my DB useless, as I had not backed all the necessary files up, before dropping the DB. After that I've been sick for 4 days now, so hopefully I'll get to it sometime this week.

As a final note there will be a "mid-term challenge for MEEP'ers in Miracle" next week. The program will include some "hands-on" on a real project, arranged by James Morle. I really look forward to this as hands-on always sticks better with me than strictly theory.

To Master or not to Master

The next book on my list was "Mastering Oracle SQL and SQL *Plus" by Lex de Hann. I'm happy to report that I finished this book over the past week.
It starts out with very basic SQL syntax and simple examples, and the first 5-6 chapters were a breeze. I have covered all these things many times in my previous jobs, and felt I knew the topics pretty well. My hope was that the rest of the book would be as easy, but I must admit that a few areas touched upon, were not all that easy. For instance chapter 9.6 "Analytical Functions and Windows" seemed very theoretical and since I've never used this in a real-life scenario it, along with Nested Tables (chapter 12), needed re-reading. I've asked Thyge to discuss these topics with me this coming week (along with a few areas like Cluster Tables, Delayed Block Cleanout).

In this past week I've done some practical exercises regarding logging vs nologging. Thyge has also given me a task to restore a database, to gain some "how do I..." experience.

I'll be starting the "Oracle Insights, Tales from the Oaktable" this coming week. According to the schedule I should read the "9i Concepts Guide", but since the printed copy is still at B2C, I'll skip ahead and go for the book. I've covered just over 200 pages of the concepts guide via PDF, but will hold out for the paper version.

There's somebody out there!

I'm not alone anymore. Apparantly somebody has read my blog. Big thanks to Matthew Butler for his encouraging words. I'll cerntainly listen to them and re-read parts of T. Kytes book again, as needed.
As a matter of fact I've been challenged by Mentor-Thyge to give a presentation of Oracles memory structure and the underlying processes later this week. I believe I have an OK understanding of this, but am also sure he can ask MANY questions that I will not be able to answer.

A few of us "MEEP"'ers have discussed our 1st month with the program and a few things came up. The main source of concern/frustration was the scope of the program. Not so much whether it was 3000 or 4000 pages, but more to have a set list of books that should be covered. The reason for this discussion was a few mails regarding 3 new items on the MEEP-list, not originally included by Jan. 1st. Further more there was also talks about a few books for MS/SQL server.

I presented this to Mogens, who in ususal style respondend "...the first E in MEEP is for Extreme.."! Basically, suck it up!!
My point for bringing it to his attention was not to reduce the ammount of reading, but more to get a final scope defined. I believe it's easier to envision one finishing a race, if one knows the distance to cover.
Kinda feels like this:Don't get me wrong.. I actually enjoy learning something new. It challenges me and I like pushing myself (and also the occaitional push from others). I only feel that if I'm going to be evaluated on my progress after 90 days of MEEP, it's nice to know what topics are to be covered.

As far as my progress report .. here goes. I've finished the T. Kyte book last friday and have read the first 4 chapters of Lex de Haan's "Mastering Oracle SQL...". I actually knew this stuff, so that gave me some confidence back. I'm sure though, as I continue through the book I'll encounter many new aspects of SQL.