Robert - Not a problem. I feel that my email was too brusque, so I was asking for it. I need to work harder on smoothing out my emails. But I really appreciate first of all that people like you are willing to devote their time to writing books for the benefit of the rest of us. If I wanted to make a pile of money, I certainly wouldn't pick Oracle as a topic. I also feel that it is terrible that some people are extremely rude and critical after you have gone to all that effort. And I certainly wouldn't want to be counted among the rude and critical. Dennis Williams DBA Lifetouch, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message----- Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 8:23 AM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Dennis, And my apologies for the semi-flame... I was having a stress filled day yesterday. One event was that I discovered what I think was a very unfair review on bookpool.com about the 9i book, and I was just a tad upset about it. I think you got more than your fare share of the brunt of it. My apologies. RF Robert G. Freeman - Oracle8i OCP Oracle DBA Technical Lead CSX Midtier Database Administration The Cigarette Smoking Man: Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him. -----Original Message----- Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 4:53 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Robert - I apologize if my reply sounded harsh. I need to remember to insert more smiley faces. Thank you for providing more details on how these books are useful. Since I haven't taken an exam yet nor purchased a book yet, I am interested in the benefits, especially since someone earlier stated that the Oracle manuals worked fine for them. Dennis Williams DBA Lifetouch, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 1:39 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L 4.... 3.... 2..... 1...... I have not written the books in the series that was being asked about. I wrote upgrade exam books, I wrote general DBA books, but not the OCP books that were being asked about. I don't shill for anyone, I don't get a dime from them for mentioning their name. I don't need to shill for Oracle Press. They do just fine without me. Shilling for my book... well I am a capitalist living in America... call me friend not comrade. Not the mention the 40 some days of back breaking work, looking for undocumented how tos and why for's that you will not find in the documentation....then there are my 5 kids who came in at night and kissed me goodnight, talking to me for the first and last time that night because I was busy trying to give something back to the community that has given me so much. As to the manuals... well have you read the Oracle9i New Features Manual now sir? Whoever passed this thing off as a manual must have been dented in the head. What it is, in my opinion, is a cleverly disguised advertisement for Oracle Education.... Oh yes, you can go pay several grand for an Oracle9i New Features class, or you can pay twenty some bucks for my book. Those who complain about typos or errors are generally not those who have ever written a thing. They are petty detail mongers who belong in quality control in a fruit of the loom factory somewhere. When they have actually sat down and contributed something to this community then I am prepared to take criticism from them. While my Upgrade Exam Crams are written for the Exam, and do try to omit non-exam related material, my Oracle9i New Features book and Mastering Oracle9i books do nothing of the sort. They are written for the DBA, by a DBA (well, several of them really). They are a collection of not only facts, but experience. Even in my exam cram books, you will find some experience crafted in. As for the rest of the Oracle Docs... some is good and some is bad... Conflicting information, documentation bugs, Circular references, references to things that don't exist and then you have to ferret out the complete information by looking at 2-3-4 different manuals. Let's see, and how many pages are the darned things... You want to go through 2000+ pages just to figure out what has changed in Oracle since version 7 or version 8? Puleeeeaaassseeee.... Authors have done that for you, and found undocumented features and functionality for you, point out bugs for you, and add a spice of real life experience that isn't present in the documentation. We give you examples (granted with an occasional typo or two) that are often more complete than the docs ever give. AND have you tried to actually PURCHACE the bound set of docs?? Oracle is proud of them, to be sure. I was just emailing a very well known author today and we decided that our average hourly rate for writing is something like 18 bucks an hour. Yep, we are in it for the money, to be sure. I'm swimming in money after 5 books.... woo hoo... NOT. As for online resources, I find them wonderful but I like books.... perhaps that is just me, but darn it, when I have PL/SQL open in a window on my screen, I don't want to have to click to a browser to look at the SQL reference guide. I want 3-4-5 books open to the same subject mater so I can find the best solution, the quickest solution (which isn't always, or often, the Oracle documented solution). Books don't give me HOST NOT FOUND errors when I need the information I need... books travel with me when phone lines are not around (and so do CD's)... I've looked at some of the 9i sites suggested in emails on this listserv and others.... some are good, some are not. Still, printed mater has the benefit of being mobile and you can yellow pen it. Print the web site, buy a book, whatever. I must admit though, I love google.com.... Retro's firing.... RF Robert G. Freeman - Oracle8i OCP Oracle DBA Technical Lead CSX Midtier Database Administration The Cigarette Smoking Man: Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him. -----Original Message----- Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 12:39 PM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Robert - Shilling for your publisher is fine as long as you add to our sum of knowledge. I really appreciate the authors that are willing to add their knowledge to this list. Can you be more specific about what there is about the books that are better than the free manuals. For example, do you research the exams and try to present facts in a more relevant form? Do you omit facts that are unlikely to appear on an exam? I have certainly noticed that in Oracle's classes -- if it isn't going to be on the test, why mention it in class? Dennis Williams DBA Lifetouch, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 10:28 AM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L I personally prefer the Exam Cram series and the Sybex OCP series. * disclaimer * I write for both companies... :-) RF Robert G. Freeman - Oracle8i OCP Oracle DBA Technical Lead CSX Midtier Database Administration The Cigarette Smoking Man: Anyone who can appease a man's conscience can take his freedom away from him. -----Original Message----- Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2002 6:13 AM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Hi I am using Oracle 8i SQL and PLSQL exam guide by Jason Couchman for my preparation of OCP. Is it good or do I need any other Book (for e.g. Advance PLSQL by Oracle Press OR Exam Cram) Amol -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Nandu Garg INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Freeman, Robert INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: DENNIS WILLIAMS INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Freeman, Robert INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: DENNIS WILLIAMS INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: Freeman, Robert INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com -- Author: DENNIS WILLIAMS INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists -------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).
