Seems like most Australians do not know about Oracle, at least as of the date this video was shot. Of course, it depends on whom you ask the question: Have you heard of Oracle Corporation before?

I went to AskTom to add the site’s search engine to my Firefox’s Search Bar but too bad the search engine link was broken:

So, I went ahead and created a new AskTom search engine plugin.

If you are browsing this page in Firefox 2 or above or IE7 or above, click here to install the AskTom […]

Did you know that in addition to SYSDATE, there is also a SQL function called CURRENT_DATE? Basically, they are the same except one important difference.

SYSDATE returns the current date and time set for the operating system on which the database resides whereas CURRENT_DATE returns the current date in the session time zone.

Here is a quick […]

Participation in the Obfuscated SQL Code Contest expired on April 1st. The SQL code that was submitted was not only obfuscated but also beautiful and artful.

When the contest started, I thought that we could just vote on the entries and select the most popular as the winner. But after seeing the entries, I believe that […]

Oracle Database 11g introduced a new feature called PL/Scope. A while back, I wrote about Dan Morgan’s experience when he compiled the package STANDARD for PL/Scope. I also wrote about Oracle’s answer, in which they said “…the reason to compile STANDARD would be to make its identifiers available in the new DBA_Identifiers view family (see […]

In addition to Oracle Mix, Oracle Wiki and Oracle Community, OAUG will be launching yet another Oracle related social network called the Knowledge Factory.

The Knowledge Factory will provide a platform for users to exchange ideas, experiences, and expertise within the Oracle Applications member community. It will feature user profiles with pictures and biographies, blogs, forums […]

The document below contains patterns of bad SQL and PL/SQL code that Gojko Adzic has repeatedly found in various applications and databases. Some of the bad practices include:

Use of WHEN OTHERS in exception handling. Embedding complex SQL inside PL/SQL code. Poor PL/SQL error handling. Hardcoding the size of PL/SQL variables. Not using bind variables. Storing ROWIDs for later reference. Storing […]

When invoking a PL/SQL procedure or function, you can specify the value of its parameters using either positional, named, or mixed notation. Let’s review what each notation means and then demonstrate the best way to add new parameters to an existing subprogram without breaking existing code.

Consider this simple package as an example:

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE […]

Do you think there is a point in arranging an Obfuscated SQL Contest, modeled after the infamous Obfuscated C Contest? Chen Shapira asked. I replied: Great idea! So, welcome to the first ever Oracle Community contest.

To learn more, or to participate, proceed to this page on OracleCommunity.net.

In the SQL Developer group on OracleCommunity.net, both Chris and Chen complained about the new SQL Developer’s automatic code completion and how it could freeze the entire editor while waiting for the popup to appear.

I have experienced this behavior too. It is really frustrating when it happens. The solution, however, is really simple. In SQL […]