Re: OCP: Book review - midnight madness.

I have this problem.
This book (Couchman Oracle 8 OCP) just seems to sit on my shelf, next to 2 other OCP books, and not want to move. Somehow, the term "OCP Study Guide" or "Certification Exam Guide" makes a book seem so much less appealing than the term "101". "101" makes me think - this won't make my brain hurt. I can read it in a couple of sittings, and lend it to a friend afterwards. "Beginner's Guide" is way too newbie. Can't even think of walking to a checkout line in a bookstore with that.
"Learning ..." works better for me than "Beginner's Guide". "Learning the Korn Shell", "... Python" and "... the vi Editor" are recent purchases that are still awaiting initial binding-cracking. But they're all tools that I want to learn. Ka-ching. "Using ..." is inviting in a practical way - as in - the reason why you installed that module in the first place. Some things - are such a battle to install, that after you complete the install, the *use* part gets forgotten.
No wonder we need 60 GB hard drives - for room for installing the things that we never end up using, but might.

I think that "Handbook" is still appealing, but more in a pick it up to look something up, and put it back kind of way. The word "Practical" works for me.
"Essential" I usually construe as '4 years outdated'. "Definitive Guide" might have been so in its time, but usually a full version ago.
"In a nutshell" usually means - this is a book that I might possibly read someday - but its highly unlikely - and a handbook will probably offer better reference. "Webmaster in a nutshell" - what was I thinking?

Some books I wonder - who was running the show that day - "Windows 2000 Active Directory?"
I guess I really wanted to implement LDAP for external authentication.

To sum up this nonsense, its the immediate usefulness that drives me to actually fetch the text from the shelf.
Or, in a more Torvalds way of thinking - the *entertainment factor* needs to be higher.
But that's me - looking for entertainment in a technical reference.

thanks for tuning in.

Pd

"Bala, Prakash" wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> Please let me know your views on the following 2 books by Jason Couchman:
>
> Oracle8i Certified Professional DBA Certification Exam Guide
> Oracle8i Certified Professional DBA Practice Exams
>
> Thanks
> Prakash
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