February 8, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Hi all,
I've been working with SQL Server in a development capacity for about 7 years now. I'm no specialist, but I'm comfortable in it and am conversant in SQL Server terminology. I need to pick up similar development skills in Oracle. I don't need to know a lot about DBA stuff, mainly just a few considerations for performance tuning. I won't be "switching" to Oracle, but rather picking up those skills and working on both platforms for the forseeable future.
What I'm looking for is a book/white paper/website which gives me, as quickly as possible, a direct comparison between SQL Server and Oracle. Some of the things I might want to know are (in order):
- ***T-SQL functions and equivalent Oracle/PL-SQL functions***
- Connection and setup methods (for one, I believe everything in Oracle resides in schemas generally under a single database?)
- An overview of the reasons people would use Oracle rather than SQL Server
Can anyone recommend a book in this regard? Failing that, can anyone recommend a book on Oracle which is, hopefully, more on the concise side and includes a function reference?
Sam
February 8, 2009 at 7:26 pm
[font="Verdana"]Sam,
I have two recommendations. The first is to go onto the Oracle forums (start at http://www.oracle.com) and ask the same question there.
The second is to browse books in that category on Amazon.com and look for something with good user reviews that seems to match what you are looking for.
You will find a lot of the basic SQL skills you already have are transferrable, but when you get into PL/SQL vs T-SQL, expect some major changes.
Good luck!
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February 9, 2009 at 8:35 am
Hi
Agree with Bruce, thats the right way to go.
Check out below links to start with:
http://www.dba-oracle.com/oracle_tips_oracle_v_sql_server.htm
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/oracle10g/pdf/cwp_general_o10g-vs-ss2k.pdf
http://www.mssqlcity.com/Articles/Compare/sql_server_vs_oracle.htm
Thanks -- Vijaya Kadiyala
February 9, 2009 at 8:53 am
Oracle documentation is clear, comprehensive and FREE!... check here http://www.oracle.com/pls/db102/portal.all_books
If you have Transact-SQL skills please take into consideration things are not that straighforward in the Oracle side, SQL and PL/SQL are not the same.
You may want to start with PL/SQL
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.February 9, 2009 at 10:30 am
Download a copy of Oracle and play with it. It is relatively easy (not exactly simple, but doable) to get running and connect to. The basic ansi commands (select update insert delete) are there, but aggregates and functions are different. Understand that oracle is far more complex than SQL Server. Doing a non standard, feature rich install is not for the faint of heart, and rolling that out to production can be amazingly difficult.
One the big reasons companies use it is it's not limited to windows. It has a history of large deployments, it's backed by a large company, and Oracle skilled are available.
February 9, 2009 at 10:55 am
jgrubb (2/9/2009)
... but aggregates and functions are different.
Not to mention Triggers, Cursors, Partitioning and stuff that does not exist in the SQL Server world like bitmap indexes, star-transformation, materialized views, etc. - just to mention a few of them 😉
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.February 9, 2009 at 12:20 pm
PaulB (2/9/2009)
jgrubb (2/9/2009)
... but aggregates and functions are different.Not to mention Triggers, Cursors, Partitioning and stuff that does not exist in the SQL Server world like bitmap indexes, star-transformation, materialized views, etc. - just to mention a few of them 😉
Picky picky. I was referring to the context of queries. Don't forget also that Oracle connections default to explicit xactions, rather than implicit as in SQL Server.
If tried to catalog the differences in detail, we'd crash the poor forum server! :w00t:
February 9, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I went from Oracle to SQL Server and I found this book helpful.
"SQL in a Nutshell" by Kevin E. Kline
(O'Reilly press)
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596518844/
It compares usage of SQL between the various databases.
For example, the 'MERGE' statement may work with one database but not another.
February 9, 2009 at 2:58 pm
PaulB (2/9/2009)
[...]and stuff that does not exist in the SQL Server world like bitmap indexes, star-transformation, materialized views, etc. - just to mention a few of them 😉
[font="Verdana"]Reverse-key indexes and sub-partitions I might give you. But the three you picked as "do not exist in the SQL Server world" kind of sort of do, or at least in some form.
Try creating an index on a bit field in SQL Server 2005. Yes, it works. 😀 Does anyone know if that's still a B* index? I suspect it is.
I know that SQL Server 2008 included some additional query optimisations for star schemas.
Materialized views have existed in SQL Server for a while now. They are called "indexed views".
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February 9, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Here are articles by James Koopmann and I will upload his 74 page PL/SQL tutorial to get you started, there is a JamesKoopmann url but the home page is now loaded with video files so it is not easy to open.
http://www.databasejournal.com/article.php/2205281
Kind regards,
Gift Peddie
February 9, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Thanks for all the help people, keep it coming!
🙂
February 10, 2009 at 4:07 am
Bruce W Cassidy (2/9/2009)Try creating an index on a bit field in SQL Server 2005. Yes, it works.
Unfortunatelly that's not the concept of an Oracle bitmap index 😀
Oracle bitmap indexes are built to cooperate with each other allowing you to identify the desired rows using several criterias -bitmap indexes - at once. Each index is represented as a bitmap and boolean math allows to cross reference several of them to identify what you are looking for. 😉
_____________________________________
Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.February 10, 2009 at 12:16 pm
PaulB (2/10/2009)
Bruce W Cassidy (2/9/2009)Try creating an index on a bit field in SQL Server 2005. Yes, it works.
Unfortunatelly that's not the concept of an Oracle bitmap index 😀
[font="Verdana"]Oh, this I know. An index of a bit (or even multiple bits) does not a bitmap index make.
Actually, the form of index I miss most from Oracle is being able to index expressions. You can sort of do this in SQL Server by creating a derived column, and then indexing the column. In both cases there are limitations to what can be indexed and what can't. But the Oracle form is very handy at times.
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February 11, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I'd like to add my favourite SQL Server vs Oracle link.
Gints Plivna
http://www.gplivna.eu
February 11, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Brilliant, thanks Gints! That's exactly what I'm after!
Sam
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