Moving into new territory...

Slacker007

I actually prefer Oracle to SQL Server, hands down. I just wish Oracle was able to integrate with Visual Studio at the same level SQL Server does. Anyhow, PL SQL is awesome stuff when done correctly, and used correctly. BTW, you can use Entity Framework with Oracle, you just need to install the Visual Studio tools for Oracle.

Marc Clifton

For years I used Oracle and SQL Server interchangeably, there are slight differences in certain things (like wildcard character), but otherwise, I really like Oracle. I strongly recommend Toad[^] for a decent tool to work with Oracle. Marc

Imperative to Functional Programming Succinctly Contributors Wanted for Higher Order Programming Project!

Lost User

+1 for Toad - invaluable !

PooperPig - Coming Soon

QuantumPlumber

If you use the unix command line, installing gqlplus will make your life easier. http://gqlplus.sourceforge.net/

Treading on the toes of giants . . .

Vivi Chellappa

Congratulations! You are talking job security well into your 80's!:rose:

Sander Rossel

Might as well do some COBOL then :laugh:

Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

Regards, Sander

Sander Rossel

I'm not doing anything Unix and I try to avoid command lines as much as possible on any OS ;)

Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

Regards, Sander

Sander Rossel

Yeah, I looked at Toad, but it's not cheap... My company has their own in-house editor of which they're very proud, so there's no way they're going to buy some external editor. I didn't like the in-house one though, so I downloaded the free Oracle SQL Developer[^] which is a step in the right direction :)

Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

Regards, Sander

Vivi Chellappa

But then you will not be stark raving mad! :laugh:

kmoorevs

Sorry, I have no advice but have read some of your articles. :thumbsup: I have no doubt you'll pick it up quickly! Great opportunity to broaden your skillset. Have fun! :)

"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse

Sander Rossel

Thanks, that's awesome! :D It's pretty fun to see something beside SQL Server indeed. And Oracle will spice up the ol' resume :D

Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

Regards, Sander

Thornik

It's strange you worry about T-SQL/PL-SQL at all! It's atavism from 70-th. Nowadays application server does it much better, so on database side you leave just tables and SQL requests - they are "almost compatible" across all databases.

Sander Rossel

Yeah, but how to make the tables, procedures, etc. It's quite a difference. Oracle has procedures which can't return a result, only output parameters, while in SQL Server a procedure is like Oracle's procedure and function in one and SQL Servers function is quite different from the Oracle function... etc. etc. :) And I just found out Oracle doesn't know the bit/boolean type... :wtf: And while an application server might do it better a database will generally do it faster ;)

Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

Regards, Sander

Jan Holst Jensen2

Or, you may want to have a look at PL/SQL Developer by dutch AllRound Automation. I have been using it for years and I am very pleased with it. Doesn't have as many features as Toad, but then it is generally faster to use. http://allroundautomations.com/[^]

Jan Holst Jensen2

and once you have learned Oracle PL/SQL it will be easy for you to code Postgres plpgsql - almost identical ;-).

Bruce Patin

Ask for a pay raise/rise. If your organization/organisation can afford Oracle, they are obviously swimming in cash. My organization could save money by moving in the other direction to PostgreSQL, but fat chance of that.

Sander Rossel

:laugh: As a supplier of Oracle it costs us nothing. It's our customers who can afford it ;)

Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

Regards, Sander

Kirk 10389821

Sander, It is much harder to go the other way for me. Utter shock when my coworker hit a breakpoint, and the SQL Server locked up until he continued. I can HONESTLY SAY I have never seen Oracle do that. Report blocks because user is editing a record. Ouch. Okay, so after MANY MANY years of doing Oracle. Get a decent tool to work with Oracle. I use Toad, SQL Navigator (both too expensive), and recently: DevArt dbForge Studio for Oracle. Straight up, SQL Server is easier to backup/restore since it is built into the tool. Integration to VS is not as nice. But with dbForge, you should be able to navigate the DB and write the code you want. They have a free version! Play with it. The paid version is well worth it (I Pay). I put the free version out on servers I maintain for quick access. Oracle suffers because it is NOT a user-driven environment. It was designed for SysAdmins, and DBAs who had been trained to use it properly. PL/SQL does not have many limitations. And the best part. I have ported the entire DB from Windows 32 bit to a Linux 64 Bit, without changing a single line of PL/SQL. For many years, PL/SQL was so stable that testing our apps in new versions requires ZERO changes. Just import the DB. Done. (BTW, I feel that importing an OLD DB into a new version of Oracle is much more transparent/easier than learning how to do it in MSSQL Server) BTW, you lose #TempTables. this sucks, but Oracle supports nested SQL in ways that I never really needed the #TempTables: Select A.*, B.* from (SELECT something from XXX) A, (SELECT other from ZZZ) B where A.X=B.X; I have nested them about 7 deep, never had an issue. Read: AskTom.Oracle.Com Just about Every question asked is answered in a strict Engineering Approach. Also, you will learn how to see the internals of what the query does, how, why, and where it is slow. Google most of your answers with Oracle as the first string: "Oracle create table as" And you will find a ton of references. CTAS is one of the differences between oracle and T-SQL. I prefer: Create Table XYZ as Select * from ...; You must select from a table. There is no "Select 'Hello'" in Oracle. you do "Select 'Hello' from Dual' (Dual is a simple table with a dummy column and only one row). You will have more powerful functions and procedures than you get inside of T-SQL (IMO). Functions can cache results for speed. be tied to table, so updates on a table clear the cache!!! In general, I feel the difference is:

jschell

Could be worse. Way worse. Could be one of the no-sql bandwagon monsters.

Sander Rossel

Actually those are pretty fun! :D

Visit my blog at Sander's bits - Writing the code you need. Or read my articles at my CodeProject profile.

Regards, Sander