Acknowledgments

I would like to thank many people for helping me complete this book.

First, I would like to thank Tony Davis for his work making my work read well. If you enjoy the flow of the sections, the number of section breaks, and the clarity, then that is probably in some part due to him. I have worked with Tony writing technical material since the year 2000 and have watched his knowledge of Oracle grow over that time. He now has the ability to not only "edit" the material, but in many cases "tech edit" it as well. Many of the examples in this book are there because of him (pointing out that the casual reader was not going to "get it" without them). This book would not be what it is without him.

Without a technical review team of the caliber I had during the writing of this book, I would be nervous about the content. Jonathan Lewis, Roderick Manalac, Michael Möller, and Gabe Romanescu spent many hours poring over the material and verifying it was technically accurate as well as useful in the real world. I firmly believe a technical book should be judged not only by who wrote it, but also by who reviewed it.

At Oracle, I work with the best and brightest people I have ever known, and they all have contributed in one way or another. I would like to thank Ken Jacobs in particular for his support and enthusiasm.

I would also like to thank everyone I work with for their support during this book-writing ordeal. It took a lot more time and energy than I ever imagined, and I appreciate everyone's flexibility in that regard. In particular, I would like to thank Tim Hoechst and Mike Hichwa, whom I've worked with and known for over 12 years now. Their constant questioning and pushing helped me to discover things that I would never have even thought of investigating on my own.

I would also like to acknowledge the people who use the Oracle software and ask so many good questions. Without them, I would never even have thought of writing this book. Much of what is included here is a direct result of someone asking me "how" or "why" at one time or another.

Lastly, but most important, I would like to acknowledge the unceasing support I've received from my family. You know you must be important to someone when you try to do something that takes a lot of "outside of work hours" and someone lets you know about it. Without the continual support of my wife Lori, son Alan, and daughter Megan, I don't see how I could have finished this book.