Lewis Cunningham
Lewis Cunningham is an Oracle ACE, Database Architect and self-professed database geek. Lewis has almost 20 years of database experience. Follow along as he builds a working Oracle encyclopedia, sharing his knowledge and experiences, and describing ways to integrate that technology in various projects and business areas.
Updated: 2 hours 20 min ago
Mon, 2009-11-30 06:12
Hmmm. Stumbled across Oracle Topline on ZDnet (via an email from CBS/ZDNet). It's sort of a cross between advertisements, press releases and white papers with some news thrown in.
I'm not complaining. The community can always use some new resources. The database area has the open world Ellison exadata v2 video.
If you are already familiar with OTN, you won't start going to
Sun, 2009-11-29 02:27
From An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
This year has been a difficult one in terms of me keeping up with the blog. It's even been difficult for me to keep up with Oracle. I just don't seem to be able to make enough time available. My new year's resolution will be to either jump back in with both feet or just get out of the water. I haven't decided yet. Until then, here's an update.
In November, I finally got to download and play
Tue, 2009-11-03 06:00
If you sign up, the system will generate a phrase for you. I didn't like mine as there is no way I would ever remember it. They also list some suggestions but I didn't like those. Almost every suggestion included the word "bread". They trying to tell me something? I swear I've cut back on the carbs!
Mon, 2009-11-02 06:00
There are plenty of things to like about InfiniDB - Multi-threaded and designed for multi-cpu/cores, ACID compliant, recoverable, supports SQL standards and online DDL, MVCC, dynamic data compression, and FREE! What attracted me first though was the open source implementation of the columnar storage.
Fri, 2009-10-30 06:00
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, design a building, write a sonnet, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, solve equations, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. -- Robert Heinlein
Thu, 2009-10-29 05:00
From An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
I got a question the other day about whether to use a scalar sub-query or a join. I think we all know what a join is (if not, I have posted on it before), but what exactly is a scalar sub-query.
Well, what does scalar mean? I looked up the definition of scalar and get:
Noun 1. scalar - a variable quantity
Wed, 2009-10-28 06:00
How often does a vendor REDUCE their prices, and thereby lowering your bill, without some nasty contract renegotiation? In my experience, never. One more reason to really like Amazon's web services.
Tue, 2009-10-27 01:29
This is pretty slick. I haven't played with it yet as it was just announced but it seems to be an API driven mysql instance. For slightly more than a base instance, 0.11/hour RDS vs 0.10/hour base EC2 (this price is dropping 15% BTW) on a small server, you get a complete server with MySQL installed. You can create and manage your database instances via procedural call (the API) and you can scale to larger instances or additional storage fairly painlessly by also using those APIs. You also pay extra for your storage of course.
Mon, 2009-10-26 05:00
From An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
Popular question: Should I use dynamic SQL for some(xxxx) task?
No. Have a nice day. Next.
Just kidding. Sometimes you need to use dynamic SQL. When coding, Dynamic SQL can be a lot of fun. I've used dynamic SQL to generate SQL that was then run. Cool.
When I use dynanamic SQL, it's because I cannot use static SQL. Seriously. If you are coding and you think you should use dynamic SQL, y
Fri, 2009-10-23 03:24
From An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
Windows IT Pro magazine has a really cool article this month, Who Would You Hire?. I wish I had thought of it.
The article basically gives you a little background on you (as a hiring manager), a little background on the company and then some information on three people applying for a job as a system adminis
Thu, 2009-10-22 05:51
From An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
Sometimes, you just need a good rant, don't you? Well, here's one from me.
UPDATE: I decided my original post violates my policy against blogging about my current job so I am changing it up a bit. I'm changing this to a rant about agile development in general.
I have seen a lack of historical knowledge and a lack of consitency in development approaches while working with an agile methodolo
Wed, 2009-10-21 06:00
From An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
What is that saying? 89.2% of all statistics are made up on the spot. I don't know what the stats are of IT folks who are unemployed but the market right now 99.9% sucks.
I still see regular requests for very senior level architects and DBAs and, less frequently, for very senior developers. If you are unemployed right now, an many of you are, what kind of resources are you us
Mon, 2009-10-19 05:05
From An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
NEXT_DAY is a simple but interesting and somewhat underused (in my experience) function. It's an awesome little time saver when you need it but, seriously, how often do you need it?
The format of the function is:
NEXT_DAY(date, day)
The date parameter is any date, future or past. The day parameter is a character parameter that take a day of week argument
Tue, 2009-09-29 01:29
Do you need a SQL, PL/SQL or Oracle Forms/Reports developer? I have personally known David for 6 or 7 years now and I worked with him for several of those years. He's one of the best Forms developers I've ever met.
If you have any Oracle work (contract, perm, short term, whatever), shoot him an email. He's available immediately so don't pass up this opportunity.
David E. Rios
Sun, 2009-09-27 09:42
Just for fun, I thought I would point out some of my posts from the last 4 1/2 years that I have been blogging here on IT Toolbox.
In the beginning (I started in March 2005, this one if from May, 2005): The Sorcerer of OO, Part 1 - An intro to Oracle object orientation.
4 years ago: One of my favorite posts
Fri, 2009-09-18 03:16
From An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
Is it 11gR2? Maybe Exadata v2? DW + OLTP = Oracle Kicking butt? Oracle + Sun = OMFG?
This is just a list from the PlanetDB2 front page (JUST from the front page):
- Selling pre-owned cars (and Oracle Exadata) - DB2 Kernel Developer
- A Closer Look at Exadata v2 Costs - DB2 Program Director
- Examination of Oracle Q1 Revenues - DB
Sun, 2009-09-13 08:03
From An Expert's Guide to Oracle Technology
Ok, this is just freaky. See this code:
DECLARE
conn UTL_SMTP.connection;
reply UTL_SMTP.reply;
msg VARCHAR2(1024);
sender VARCHAR2(255) DEFAULT 'demo\@ca.ibm.com';
recipients VARCHAR2(255);
subject VARCHAR2(255) DEFAULT 'Quick notification';
crlf VARCHAR2(2);
BEGIN
crlf := UTL_TCP.CRLF;
FOR row IN (SELECT first_name, email FROM customer) L
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