O'Reilly Oracle Center -- Oracle8i: An Interview with Steven Feuerstein and Andrew Odewahn
by Lori Houston
09/01/1999
Houston:
Steven, have you learned anything new since
Oracle PL/SQL
Programming: Guide to Oracle 8i Features was published
in Fall 1999?
Feuerstein:
Hey, I think that sounds like a loaded question! Aren't I supposed to be
learning new stuff all the time? :-) Actually, yes, I have been moving in
some new directions lately. This past November, I joined an Internet
startup named Starbelly.com, which is establishing itself as the
premier portal for customized goods (t-shirts, hats, mugs, etc. with logos,
art, text, etc.)
This is my first opportunity to be on the inside of an Internet startup. It
is a simultaneously surreal and gritty experience. Everything has to be done
in "e time" (yesterday). Each new day, a dozen new business opportunities
and corresponding technology challenges appear on our plate.
On the other hand, we have assembled a very strong core group of about
75 IT professionals. We are using Oracle8i right from the get-go,
plus Enterprise Java Beans. We have a very solid business model based on
actual revenue instead of projected losses. How cool!
Houston:
What's your sense of the degree to which Oracle8i is being
embraced by companies and database administrators?
Feuerstein:
I believe that we'll see a fairly rapid move to Oracle8i, at least
in comparison to the adoption of Oracle8. There are so many great new
features AND they have done lots of low-level tuning to both the RDBMS
and the PL/SQL engine. I would say that a "critical mass" point will be
reached when people feel comfortable enough with the stability of the
release--and then there will be a mass migration to Oracle8i.
Odewahn:
I think people are very interested in Oracle8i. It won
TechWeb/InformationWeek Online's Database Product of
the Year. There's a lot of interest in Java but the problem is,
people have day jobs. They have users who need things, they have to help
people, and they have to keep their production systems running. My sense
is that people are really excited and intrigued but they are overwhelmed
right now, both with Java and Web applications in general.
I wrote Oracle Web
Applications: PL/SQL Developer's Introduction
to help these busy people start making the transition to 8i. Most of
us just don't have the time or the energy to read--much less carry around--
some five-pound book. My goal was to write a short book--one that you
could read over the weekend or on the train home from work--that covered
the critical 20% of material used 80% of the time. It's my hope that the
reader who starts at ground level will be able to develop pretty
sophisticated PL/SQL-based Web applications in just a week or two.
Houston:
What are the problem areas? What's going to be hard for Oracle developers
transitioning to 8i?
Feuerstein:
I agree that the most significant barrier to entry for developers--and
database administrators--is simply the volume of new features to learn
about, absorb, and integrate into their environments. It is extremely
important that you review the new capabilities and then identify those
features that you actually need and can apply immediately. Learn
incrementally, don't get overwhelmed, and you will do just fine. (Oracle's
browser-based documentation for Oracle8i makes this fairly easy by offering
a "Getting to Know Oracle8i" summary.)
Of course, at a more global level, one big challenge for Oracle (PL/SQL)
developers is the need to learn Java. To become a Java guru could take
years, especially if object-oriented programming is new to you. You can, on
the other hand, fairly rapidly understand the basic concepts and
capabilities of the language, and then put those to use in your environment.
Odewahn:
Yes, mostly the learning curve, making that shift. Java is an object-
oriented language, which is very different from PL/SQL. There's a different
mindset between those languages for developers. People using Oracle right
now tend to be in the procedural mode, and it's going to take time to come
up to speed in Java. To go from one procedural language to another, such
as from Pascal and C, is pretty easy. But to go from procedural
programming to object-oriented programming is a whole different thing.
Plus, Java is case sensitive! I can't tell you how may times I've screamed
at my computer after spending ten minutes looking for a compiler error only
to discover that I've typed RetVal instead of retVal. On a higher level,
there's lots of academic jargon. Polymorphism? Multiple Inheritance? It
can be intimidating.
Still, from my brief flirtations with Java, I think database people are in a
pretty good position. The hardest thing I've found is learning how to apply
object-oriented data modeling principles. Once I got past the nomenclature,
though, I found it surprisingly similar to database normalization (speaking
of academic terms!). If you know how to normalize a set of tables and
understand and use PL/SQL packages, you're well on your way to
understanding Java. You just have to remember to apply what you already
know.
Houston:
What will be in the Oracle PL/SQL Developers Workbook you're working on
together?
Feuerstein:
Ah, yes, my fifth PL/SQL book....
The Oracle
PL/SQL Developers Workbook will be approximately 500 pages of
problems and solutions broken down into functionality areas. I felt that I
wanted to help developers learn in a more active way than simply reading
content. The idea behind this is to offer problems at three levels (beginner,
intermediate, and expert) to be solved. Readers can, of course, look up the
answers (or one version of the answers, because there are often multiple
paths to a solution), but the real benefit of the book will be to go through
the problem-solving process themselves.
When I've talked about this book with developers at various seminars, they
have responded enthusiastically, so I am looking forward to getting it
finished and out the door. I have had help on this book from many
developers, especially Darryl Hurley. The workbook was about 80%
complete at the end of 1999, but when I realized that I simply didn't have
the time to finish the last 20% I asked Andrew to join me. He agreed, and
he is now very hard at work turning all this great content into finished
form. Thanks, Andrew! (And of course thanks to Debby Russell, my editor
of five years.)
Odewahn:
Well, I think Steven has just about covered it. I'd just add that it's been
a pleasure working with the high-caliber professionals involved with this
project. I've learned a great deal from Steven and the other authors, and
seeing how they approach the material was an eye-opener. Plus, all the
people at O'Reilly--especially Debby Russell, Steve Abrams, and Madeline
Newell--really know their stuff.
Houston:
What does 8i mean for both of you professionally?
Feuerstein:
Hmmm. Well, from the standpoint of training, consulting, and writing,
Oracle8i offers lots of new opportunities. You know, you can get
sort of tired of new opportunities after a while. New features mean new
editions of books, which means changes to my seminar content, etc. But,
hey, I'm not really complaining. I could have chosen to write a book about
Oracle Forms. That would have required substantial rewrites every six
months or so. OK, I exaggerate.
So I am busy integrating this new information into all my content areas,
including the outstanding RevealNet Knowledge Bases (which, by the way, you can
now order directly
from O'Reilly!), and then I plan to help developers and DBAs come up to
speed and apply the technology.
Odewahn:
Most likely that I won't be doing any more hiking for quite a while!
