Preface

The Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals describes basic application development features of Oracle Database 10g. Information in this guide applies to features that work the same on all supported platforms, and does not include system-specific information.

This Preface contains these topics:

• Audience

• Documentation Accessibility

• Related Documents

• Conventions

Audience

Oracle Database Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals is intended for programmers developing new applications or converting existing applications to run in the Oracle Database environment. This book will also be valuable to systems analysts, project managers, and others interested in the development of database applications.

To use this document, you need a working knowledge of application programming, and that you are acquainted with using the Structured Query Language (SQL) to access information in relational database systems. Some sections of this guide assume a familiar with object-oriented programming.

Documentation Accessibility

Our goal is to make Oracle products, services, and supporting documentation accessible, with good usability, to the disabled community. To that end, our documentation includes features that make information available to users of assistive technology. This documentation is available in HTML format, and contains markup to facilitate access by the disabled community. Accessibility standards will continue to evolve over time, and Oracle is actively engaged with other market-leading technology vendors to address technical obstacles so that our documentation can be accessible to all of our customers. For more information, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/accessibility/

Accessibility of Code Examples in Documentation

Screen readers may not always correctly read the code examples in this document. The conventions for writing code require that closing braces should appear on an otherwise empty line; however, some screen readers may not always read a line of text that consists solely of a bracket or brace.

Accessibility of Links to External Web Sites in Documentation

This documentation may contain links to Web sites of other companies or organizations that Oracle does not own or control. Oracle neither evaluates nor makes any representations regarding the accessibility of these Web sites.

TTY Access to Oracle Support Services

Oracle provides dedicated Text Telephone (TTY) access to Oracle Support Services within the United States of America 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For TTY support, call 800.446.2398.

Related Documents

For more information, see these Oracle resources:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL User's Guide and Reference to learn PL/SQL and to get a complete description of the PL/SQL high-level programming language, which is Oracle's procedural extension to SQL.

• Oracle Call Interface Programmer's Guide and Oracle C++ Call Interface Programmer's Guide to learn about the Oracle Call Interface (OCI). You can use the OCI to build third-generation language (3GL) applications that access the Oracle Database.

• Oracle Database Security Guide to learn about security features of the database that application developers and database administrators need to be aware of.

• The Oracle documentation for the Pro* series of precompilers, which allow you to embed SQL and PL/SQL in your programs. If you write 3GL application programs in C, C++, COBOL, or FORTRAN that incorporate embedded SQL, then refer to the corresponding precompiler manual. For example, if you program in C or C++, then refer to the Pro*C/C++ Programmer's Guide.

• Oracle JDeveloper 10g is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for building applications and Web services using the latest industry standards for Java, XML, and SQL. You can access the JDeveloper documentation at the following product page:

  http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/jdev

• Oracle Database SQL Reference and Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for SQL information.

• Oracle Database Concepts for basic Oracle Database concepts

• Oracle XML Developer's Kit Programmer's Guide and Oracle XML DB Developer's Guide for developing applications that manipulate XML data.

Many of the examples in this book use the sample schemas, which are installed by default when you select the Basic Installation option with an Oracle Database installation. Refer to Oracle Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how you can use them yourself.

Printed documentation is available for sale in the Oracle Store at

http://oraclestore.oracle.com/

To download free release notes, installation documentation, white papers, or other collateral, please visit the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). You must register online before using OTN; registration is free and can be done at

http://www.oracle.com/technology/membership/

If you already have a username and password for OTN, then you can go directly to the documentation section of the OTN Web site at

http://www.oracle.com/technology/documentation/

For additional information, see:

• Oracle JDeveloper 10g: Empowering J2EE Development by Harshad Oak. Apress, 2004.

• Oracle JDeveloper 10g Handbook by Avrom Faderman, Peter Koletzke, and Paul Dorsey. Oracle Press, 2004.

• Oracle PL/SQL Tips and Techniques by Joseph C. Trezzo. Oracle Press, 1999.

• Oracle PL/SQL Programming by Steven Feuerstein. 3rd Edition. O'Reilly & Associates, 2002.

• Oracle PL/SQL Developer's Workbook by Steven Feuerstein. O'Reilly & Associates, 2000.

• Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices by Steven Feuerstein. O'Reilly & Associates, 2001.

Conventions

This section describes the conventions used in the text and code examples of this documentation set. It describes:

• Conventions in Text

• Conventions in Code Examples

• Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

Conventions in Text

We use various conventions in text to help you more quickly identify special terms. The following table describes those conventions and provides examples of their use.

Conventions in Code Examples

Code examples illustrate SQL, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus, or other command-line statements. They are displayed in a monospace (fixed-width) font and separated from normal text as shown in this example:

SELECT username FROM dba_users WHERE username = 'MIGRATE';

The following table describes typographic conventions used in code examples and provides examples of their use.

[ ]

DECIMAL (digits [ , precision ])

{ }

{ENABLE | DISABLE}

|

{ENABLE | DISABLE}
[COMPRESS | NOCOMPRESS]

...

CREATE TABLE ... AS subquery;

SELECT col1, col2, ... , coln FROM employees;

acctbal NUMBER(11,2);
acct    CONSTANT NUMBER(4) := 3;

Italics

CONNECT SYSTEM/system_password
DB_NAME = database_name

UPPERCASE

SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
SELECT * FROM USER_TABLES;
DROP TABLE hr.employees;

lowercase

SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees;
sqlplus hr/hr
CREATE USER mjones IDENTIFIED BY ty3MU9;

Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

The following table describes conventions for Windows operating systems and provides examples of their use.

C:\oracle\oradata>

C:\> exp HR/HR TABLES=emp QUERY=\"WHERE job='REP'\"

HOME_NAME

C:\> net start OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener