I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is: when you first meet Don Bales, he seems like an overly confident know-it-all. The good news is: he’s not. Actually, he’s a great teacher/author and perhaps does know it all when it comes to Oracle! I’ve not only read this book, but lived it. You see, I ended up working for him. Because of this, I think I am the perfect person to introduce you to Beginning Oracle PL/SQL.

A good programmer knows that the purpose of a good book, like this one, is to introduce the concepts of, the application of, and good examples of the subject: PL/SQL. Beginning Oracle PL/SQL goes above and beyond the call by explaining when you can use PL/SQL and when you should not. It starts with a low level understanding of basic SQL and builds your skills into understanding all types of complex PL/SQL.

My background may help you understand the profound effect that this book had on my career. I graduated with a computer science degree from a small private school. When I graduated, I had a basic understanding of databases and a good understanding of object-oriented programming languages.

My first job was at that same school, and it involved a lot of Java and a fair bit of PL/SQL. I was hired to be an object-oriented Java programmer and to hack through whatever else needed to be done. Although I never had formal training in it, or even understood the fundamentals of PL/SQL, I was able to hack together applications written in the language.

Before reading this book and working with Don, I had programmed in PL/SQL for five years. Working with Don reading this book changed the trajectory of my career. I looked both backward and forward to identify my mistakes and future direction. Since reading this book, I write much less PL/SQL to accomplish much more. It’s amazing what a difference the strong fundamentals taught in Beginning Oracle PL/SQL provide to a person who has been effectively writing code for years, and that’s not even who it was written for!

I believe Don asked me to write this forward because he saw my abilities before and after reading and learning from his book. I am the poster child for what his book can do for a programmer who has always been able to cobble things together. It turned me from someone who was able to accomplish a task into someone who can write PL/SQL in an efficient and consistent manner, and know when and why to use the various features of the language.

The nature of this book sets it apart from others in its category. PL/SQL is a procedural language. Therefore, it only makes sense that everything is taught in a procedural way, right? This is not the case, nor should it be. Don is able to apply object-oriented principles where they make sense to greatly enhance the use and effectiveness of PL/SQL.

Don is the perfect person to write this book. His background is unparalleled. He started off as a general contractor and was able to teach himself how to be a strong programmer. That’s the least of it. Yes, his programming skills are superior, but he has two, much bigger, assets: building skills/getting the most out of others and delivering products that satisfy his customer’s needs. He does both with this book. If you read and study it, your skills will be enhanced and you will become a confident PL/SQL programmer.

Don approached writing Beginning Oracle PL/SQL like everything else he does, by asking, “What is the goal?” The goal of this book is to teach you, the reader, everything you should know about PL/SQL. This is not an encyclopedia of every last Oracle function, procedure, etc. Instead, it’s a great tool that will show you how to use PL/SQL, when to use PL/SQL, and what is possible with PL/SQL, when writing an application that utilizes Oracle.

—T.J. Eakle
Web Developer
Argonne National Laboratory