Connor McDonald – författare

Do you need more from a PL/SQL book than just the correct keywords and some pretty syntax diagrams? Have you been searching in vain for real-world examples and genuine strategies for maximizing the benefits of PL/SQL within your organization? You''ll find them here in Mastering Oracle PL/SQL: Practical Solutions, the inaugural title of the pioneering OakTable Press series from Apress.

This isn''t a tutorial on how to code PL/SQL. It''s designed to show you how to code PL/SQL well. It shows you how to write code that will run quickly and wont break in high-load, multiuser environments. It covers the vast array of the functionality that PL/SQL provides, including effective handling of relational and abstract data, security, triggers, dynamic web content presentation from within the database, creation of a DBA toolkit, and effective debugging techniques.

This book sets out to redress the unjust criticism leveled at PL/SQL in years gone by. It gives you the tools and techniques to ensure that, whatever your needs are, the PL/SQL you build will run as efficiently as possible. The practical solutions provided in this book will help you to realize the true power and functionality PL/SQL can offer your projects.

If you''re brand-new to PL/SQL, then you''ll want to take some time to get familiar with the language before tackling this book. It''s not for the total beginner. But once youre up and running, you''ll find this book an invaluable guide for ensuring that the PL/SQL solutions you build are robust, perform well, and are easy to maintain.

Announcing a new book from Apress and the OakTable Network:

Oracle Insights: Tales of the Oak Table presents 11 world-renowned industry specialists proffering their own highly experienced views, input, and insights on Oracle—where it''s been, where it''s going, how (and how not) to use it successfully, the software and techniques that theyve introduced to help people achieve their goals, and some frightening tales of what can happen when fundamental design principles are ignored.

The collaborating authors have solved many of the worst Oracle performance problems in the world, and they''ve each saved at least one doomed flagship project. Over many years, they''ve been sharing their unique knowledge with each other at conferences, around the OakTable, and in coffee shops, restaurants, and bars on five continents. Now they want to share their key insights with you.

A major focus of this book concerns the ways in which you can avoid common and debilitating mistakes when building Oracle software projects. From these stories, you''ll learn the simple steps that will help you avoid real pain on your next (or current) Oracle project.

Expert PL/SQL Practices is a book of collected wisdom on PL/SQL programming from some of the best and the brightest in the field. Each chapter is a deep-dive into a specific problem, technology, or feature set that you’ll face as a PL/SQL programmer. Each author has chosen their topic out of the strong belief that what they share can make a positive difference in the quality and scalability of code that you write.

The path to mastery begins with syntax and the mechanics of writing statements to make things happen. If you’ve reached that point with PL/SQL, then let the authors of Expert PL/SQL Practices show you how to combine syntax and mechanics with features and techniques to really make the language sing. You’ll learn to do more with less effort, to write code that scales and performs well, and to eliminate and avoid defects.

These authors are passionate about PL/SQL and the power it places at your disposal. They want you to succeed, to know all that PL/SQL can offer. Let Expert PL/SQL Practices open your eyes to the full power of Oracle’s world-class language for the database engine.

Flash MX Studio takes your raw Flash talent and multiplies its potency by focusing it on real-world web design situations. In the heady days of the late 1990s, designers were trying their hand at anything and everything they could lay their hands on. Now the marketplace is seriously focused, and serious Flash designers have to know exactly what they''re doing and why. These days, it''s all about functionality over experimentation, justification over style. It''s all about maturity. The design must fit the job specs, and this book shows the reader how to fulfill these requirements and more.

This book examines all the avenues open to professional or aspiring professional Flash MX designers. It takes a look at advanced uses of the new MX features, such as components and the Drawing API, and gives guidance on building whole new structures for animation, Dynamic Content, PHP, ColdFusion MX, XML, video, audio and audiovisual formats.

Never before has so much power been so accessible to the web designer. This book is designed to put that power in your hands.

Flash MX Studio has been broken into four sections to address the most common needs for the Flash designer. First off, Jamie McDonald provides five chapters on site presentation and the principles of web design. These opening chapters take a look at how to create slick, professional-level sites, involving Flash MX''s new drawing and motion capabilities and interactive techniques.

The second section concentrates on ActionScript. Flash''s resident coding environment is crucial to master, and taps into Flash''s great strength—intuitive and interactive applications. Keith Peters and Todd Yard have buddied up on this section, and examine some of the most advanced ActionScript techniques around. Be warned—this section is not for the faint-hearted!

Section three takes a look at Flash MX''s greatly improved visual, audio andaudiovisual capabilities. Its three chapters, written by Jez Turner and Alex White, concentrate on building a single site aimed at displaying rich media content.

The final section is devoted to expounding a few myths about dynamic content using Flash. Its four chapters talk about general practice, before focusing in on specific areas, including introductions to PHP and XML, together with a look at Macromedia''s brand new ColdFusion MX.

The days of Flash as a creative luxury are long gone. After months of downsizing, Flash creativity has been on a huge rationalization program. It is no longer enough to present animation in millions of colors and a hundred transparencies. It is no longer sufficient to provide interactivity and dynamism for their own sake.

The purpose of this collection is to show how designers have taken Flash and made it work for its supper. What we discover is a series of creations that place Flash at the hub of cutting edge web content.

The end result is a snapshot of Flash as the ideal medium.

In these amazing examples, we see the software pushed to its limits to create unbeatable applications—a collapsible family tree, an interactive video learning system, and a drawing tool, capable of running online!

Beyond this, we dip into the back-end capabilities to look at how to improve Flash still further. Some staple XML and PHP routines are brought in to add a bit of spice, while Flash''s mysterious sharedObject command is hunted down and tamed to create a hybrid Tamagotchi houseplant—perfectly suited to lure surfers back to your website!

It all revolves around Flash and math. It''s what you do in your spare time: just take little ideas and mess around with them. This is a book of inspiration, beautiful enough to leave on the coffee table, but addictive enough to keep by your computer and sneak out while no-one''s looking so you can go back to that movie that you were tinkering with ''til three o''clock this morning. It''s a fun book.

It''s a book of iterative experiments, generative design. Each author does four experiments. Each experiment takes up four pages. We give you the code and explain the essence, then you take away your inspiration and run with it. The purpose of the book is to learn through experimentation because you are inspired to do so, not because someone is telling you to do so.

Follow the fmc site link for more information.