Newbies FAQ

General FAQ's about Oracle for newbies (new users):

What is Oracle?

Oracle is a trademark of Oracle Corporation and in common usage refers to the database engine (which looks after the data) and a range of front-end products. For more details, see Oracle database.

Why do people like to work with the Oracle database?

People normally chooses Oracle for one of the following reasons:

• Oracle is the number one developer of database management systems (DBMS) software in the world.

• The Oracle DBMS is supported on over 80 different operating environments, ranging from IBM Mainframes, DEC VAX minicomputers, UNIX-based minicomputers, Windows NT and several proprietary hardware-operating system platforms, and is clearly the world's largest RDBMS vendor. Oracle employs more than 17,000 professionals in 93 countries around the world. Their expenditure for research and development is approximately 13% of their revenues.

• Oracle is a leader in high performance, highly scalable database systems - as can be verified by looking at the TPC (Transaction Processing Council) benchmark results. (Reference: http://www.tpc.org/ ).

• Oracle is an industry leader and there are plenty of expertise as well as job opportunities available in the market.

• The Oracle product line is feature rich which makes it exciting to work with their products.

• Oracle is a visionary company - guaranteed to keep you on top of new technological developments.

How strong is Oracle as a company?

Oracle is a stable company and the number one developer of database management systems (DBMS) software in the world. But don't believe us, look at Oracle's recent performance on the stock market (NASDAQ:ORCL):

• Silicon Investor
• Yahoo Quotes

How fast is the Oracle database?

The standard Oracle license agreement prevents users from publishing benchmark results. As a result you will not find many benchmarks on the Net.

The best source for performance related data is the Transaction Processing Performance Council (TPC). Visit their Home Page for published database benchmark results.

Ideas International also has some Top Performers Lists.

Where can I get Oracle software for free?

Oracle provides software downloads from their http://otn.oracle.com website.

Some of these products are provided free of charge, while others ship with a development license that allows one to use full versions of these products while developing and prototyping applications.

Some of the free products:

• Oracle XE (Express Edition) - Oracle database for your Windows or Linux desktop
• SQL Developer - IDE for developing SQL and PL/SQL code
• JDeveloper - Java development IDE

Who's selling Oracle?

Oracle products cannot be bought as Commercial Off-The Shelf Software packages. To buy Oracle you need to contact Oracle's sales division or any of their authorized resellers. A website is also available where the software can be ordered from.

Where can I post my Oracle questions?

One of the best place to start is the support forums at http://www.orafaq.com/forum/. Some uses and developers are answering questions 24 hours a day. Be sure to use the search function to see if your problem has already been addressed before posting!

Alternatives:

• Forums - other forums
• Mailing lists - Oracle related mailing lists
• Usenet - Oracle USENET NetNews groups

Posting guidelines:
Make sure you understand the Netiquette Guidelines before posting your message to any of the above communities. See netiquette guidelines for details.

When you receive a good answer, it is recommended that you post a summary to the forum/list/newsgroup. It would also be great if you can contribute your new-found knowledge to this wiki.

Where is the Oracle documentation?

See documentation.

What should I do to get an Oracle job?

See Getting a job.