Oracle PL/SQL by Example

Like the previous edition, this tutorial is an integrated learning solution that teaches all the Oracle PL/SQL skills you need, hands-on, through real-world labs, extensive examples, exercises, and projects. Completely updated for Oracle 12c, it covers all the fundamentals, from PL/SQL syntax and program control through packages and optimization. This book's approach reflects the authors' award-winning experience teaching PL/SQL programming to professionals. Providing readers with the accompanying schema that can be used for practice allows the authors to explain PL/SQL concepts through examples. Each concept is explained first, then illustrated via examples and interactive labs that introduce topics about Oracle PL/SQL. The topics are discussed briefly and then explored through exercises. Each exercise consists of a series of steps followed to perform a specific task, along with questions designed to help you discover the important things about PL/SQL programming on your own. The answers to the questions are then given with more in-depth discussion of the topics. In this way the answers are not just solutions to the exercises but a continuation of the learning process. The exercises are intended to act as your guide to walk you through a particular task. Finally, at the end of each chapter there is a "Test Your Thinking" section made up of a series of projects designed to solidify all of the skills learned in the chapter. Key topics covered include: * Using conditional and iterative program control techniques, including the new CONTINUE and CONTINUE WHEN statements * Efficiently handling errors and exceptions * Using stored procedures, functions, and packages to write modular code that other programs can execute * Working with collections, object-relational features, native dynamic SQL, bulk SQL, and other advanced PL/SQL capabilities * Handy reference appendices: PL/SQL formatting guide, sample database schema, ANSI SQL standards reference