Recommendation for a book on "expressive" PL/SQL?

Question

Let me be clear - I have more than enough "references" and "for beginners" books.

What I want is something like "Exceptional PL/SQL" or "Agile PL/SQL" or "PL/SQL Design Patterns" or even just "PL/SQL For Developers Who Want To Write Pretty Code".

Does such a thing exist?

(I'm a C++/Ruby/etc. developer. I've been thrown into an Oracle project. The language makes me feel like my hands are tied behind my back and there's a burlap bag over my head. It's bringing back bad memories of DBase and Clipper...)

Answer 1

I found this book useful:

Oracle PL/SQL Best Practices

And there are a bunch of other books by O'Reilly that might be useful to you here.

Also, if I could recommend something to read, I would suggest an Oracle performance book. So many avoidable performance issues are often introduced by people new to PL/SQL.

Answer 2

Bit of a wildcard, but in my opinion it is worth looking at the presentations that Tom Kyte makes available.

Granted they lose something if you weren't at the presentation but ones like SQL Techniques may save you writing a ton of PL/SQL code.

Good luck with your project!

Answer 3

Connor McDonald is a very good Oracle developer, and his book "Mastering Oracle PL/SQL" has some nice ideas/approaches. Many of the Gang of Four's structural patterns are directly applicable: facade, proxy, adapter, bridge.

Then go to asktom.oracle.com and click on "Resources" and "Links" at the top of the page. Tom Kyte's books are very good.

Answer 4

Not just PL/SQL but Oracle in general - two good books by Thomas Kyte:

http://www.amazon.com/Expert-One-One-Oracle-Thomas/dp/1590592433

http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Oracle-Design-Osborne-ORACLE/dp/0072230657