The Intriguing History of This Book

The Intriguing History of This Book
First encountered Oracle in 1982, in the process of evaluating database management systems for a major commercial application that my company was preparing to design and build. At its conclusion, our evaluation was characterized in ComputerWorld as the single-most “grueling” study of DBMSs that has ever been conducted. The study was so tough on the vendors whose products we examined that word of it made the press as far away as New Zealand, and publications as far afield as the Christian Science Monitor.
We began the study with 108 candidate companies, then narrowed the field to sixteen finalists, including most of the major database vendors of the time, and all types of databases: network, hierarchical, relational, and others. After the rigorous final round of questions, two of the major vendors participating asked that the results of the study of their products never be published. A salesman from a third vendor quit his job at the end of one of the sessions. We knew how to ask tough questions.
Oracle, known then as Relational Software, Inc., had fewer than 25 employees at the time, and only a few major accounts. Nevertheless, when the study was completed, we announced Oracle as the winner. We declared that Oracle was technically the best product on the market, and that the management team at RSI looked capable enough to carry the company forward successfully. Our radical proclamation was made at a time when few people even knew what the term “relational” meant, and those who did had very few positive things to say about it. Many IS exectives loudly criticized our conclusions and predicted that Oracle and the relational database would go nowhere.
Oracle today is the largest database company, and the second largest software company in the world. The relational database is now the world standard.
Koch Systems Corporation, the company I owned and ran at the time, became Oracle’s first Valued Added Reseller. We developed the world’s first major commercial relational application, a securities trading and accounting system called THESIS. This product was used by major banks and corporations to manage their investment portfolios. Even IBM bought THESIS, and it allowed Oracle to be installed at IBM headquarters in spite of vigorous internal opposition. After all, IBM was the leading database company at the time, with IMS and DB2 as their flagship products.
Oracle was continuing to refine its young product, to understand the kinds of features and functionality that would make it productive and useful in the business world, and our development efforts at Koch Systems contributed to that refinement. Some of Oracle’s features were the direct results of requests that we made of Oracle’s developers, and our outspoken advocacy of an end-user bias in application design and naming conventions has influenced a generation of programmers who learned Oracle in our shop or read articles which we published.
All of this intimate involvement with the development and use of Oracle led us to an early and unmatched expertise with the product and its capabilities. Since I have always loved sharing discoveries and knowledge—to help shorten the learning time necessary with new technologies and ideas, and save others the cost of making the same mistakes I did— I decided to turn what we’d learned into a book.
Oracle: The Complete Reference was conceived in 1988 to pull together all of the fundamental commands and techniques used across the Oracle product line, as well as give solid guidance in how to develop applications using Oracle and SQL. Part I of the book was aimed both at developers and end-users, so that they could share a common language and understanding during the application development process: developers and end users working side by side—a wild concept when the book was first conceived.
Linda Allen, a respected literary agent in San Francisco, introduced me to Liz Fisher, then the editor at Osborne/McGraw-Hill. Liz liked the idea very much. Contracts were drawn, and the first edition was scheduled to be released in 1989. But a now-departed senior executive at McGraw-Hill heard of the project and instantly canceled its development, pronouncing that “Oracle is a flash in the pan. It is going nowhere.” A year later, when Oracle Corporation had again doubled in size and the senior executive was gone, the effort was restarted, and the first edition finally arrived in 1990.
Almost immediately, it became the No. 1 book in its category, a position it has maintained for a decade.
In July of 1990, I was hired by Oracle to run its Applications Division. I became senior vice president of the company and guided the division (with a lot of talented help) to worldwide success. While at Oracle, I also introduced Osborne/McGraw-Hill to Oracle senior management, and after opposition from an Oracle vice president who didn’t see any value in the idea (he’s no longer with Oracle), Oracle Press was born.
Oracle Press is now the leading publisher of Oracle-based reference manuals in the world.
In 1992, Bob Muller, a former developer at both Koch Systems and Oracle, took over responsibilities for technical updates to the book, as my duties at Oracle precluded any more than editorial review of changes. This produced Oracle7: The Complete Reference. This was Bob’s first published book, and he has since gone on to write several other popular books on development and database design.
In 1994 I left Oracle to fulfill a long-held desire—full-time ministry—and today I’m the pastor of Church of the Resurrection (http://www.resurrection.org) in West Chicago, Illinois. I continue to write in publications as diverse as theWall Street Journal and Christianity Today, and I’ve recently published a book in England, The Country Parson’s Advice to His Parishioner, from Monarch Books. I also sit on the board of directors of Apropos, a leading call center applications company, but I no longer work in Oracle application development.
Also in 1994, Kevin Loney, a highly respected independent Oracle consultant and author (http://www.kevinloney.com), took over the updating and rewriting responsibilities for the third edition of the book, and has continued ever since. He has contributed major new sections (such as the “Hitchhiker’s Guide”), and fully integrated new Oracle product features into all sections of the book. He has also integrated many readers’ comments into the structure and content of the book, making its current form the product of both its readers and its authors. Those efforts have allowed Oracle: The Complete Reference to stay at the top of its field and continue to be the single-most comprehensive guide to Oracle—still unmatched in range, content, and authority. I am a real fan of Kevin’s and am most impressed by his knowledge and thoroughness.
Oracle: The Complete Reference is now available in eight languages, and is found on the desks of developers and Oracle product users all over the world. Not only has it been No. 1 in its category (with two editions out, it once was both No. 1 and No. 4), it has also been regularly in the top 100 of all books sold through Amazon.com. At one point it was the No. 7 best-selling book of all books sold in Brazil! Its reputation and enduring success are unparalleled in its marketplace.
Like Oracle itself, the book has survived and prospered in spite of the recurring predictions of failure from many quarters. Perhaps this brief history can be an encouragement to others who face opposition but have a clear vision of what is needed in the years ahead.
As Winston Churchill said, “Never give in, never give in, never give in—in nothing great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Sejarah menarik buku iniPertama kali bertemu Oracle pada tahun 1982, dalam proses mengevaluasi sistem manajemen database untuk aplikasi komersial besar yang perusahaan saya sedang bersiap-siap untuk merancang dan membangun. Pada kesimpulan, evaluasi kami ditandai di ComputerWorld sebagai singel paling "melelahkan" studi dari kalangan yang pernah telah dilakukan. Penelitian ini begitu kuat pada vendor produk yang kita meneliti kata itu menjadikan tekan jauh seperti Selandia Baru, dan publikasi yang jauh jauh sebagai Christian Science Monitor. Kami mulai studi dengan 108 calon perusahaan, maka mempersempit lapangan untuk finalis enam belas, termasuk sebagian besar vendor database besar waktu, dan semua jenis database: jaringan, hierarki, relasional, dan lain-lain. Setelah putaran final ketat pertanyaan, dua dari vendor utama berpartisipasi meminta bahwa hasil kajian produk mereka tidak akan dipublikasikan. Seorang salesman dari vendor ketiga berhenti dari pekerjaannya pada akhir salah satu sesi. Kami tahu bagaimana mengajukan pertanyaan-pertanyaan sulit. Oracle, yang dikenal kemudian sebagai Relational Software, Inc. memiliki kurang dari 25 karyawan pada waktu itu, dan hanya beberapa akun utama. Namun demikian, ketika studi selesai, kami mengumumkan Oracle sebagai pemenang. Kami menyatakan bahwa Oracle teknis produk terbaik di pasar, dan tim manajemen RSI tampak cukup mampu untuk meneruskan perusahaan berhasil. Proklamasi radikal kami dibuat pada suatu waktu ketika beberapa orang bahkan tahu apa istilah "relasional" berarti, dan mereka yang melakukan memiliki hal-hal positif yang sangat sedikit untuk mengatakan tentang hal itu. Banyak IS exectives keras mengkritik kesimpulan kami dan meramalkan bahwa Oracle dan database relasional akan pergi mana-mana. Oracle hari ini adalah database terbesar perusahaan, dan perusahaan perangkat lunak terbesar kedua di dunia. Database relasional adalah sekarang dunia standar. Koch sistem Corporation, perusahaan saya dimiliki dan berlari pada waktu itu, menjadi Oracle pertama saat ditambahkan Reseller. Kami mengembangkan aplikasi pertama di dunia utama komersial relasional, efek perdagangan dan akuntansi sistem yang disebut tesis. Produk ini digunakan oleh bank-bank besar dan perusahaan untuk mengelola portofolio investasi mereka. Bahkan IBM membeli tesis, dan itu memungkinkan Oracle untuk diinstal di markas IBM meskipun oposisi internal yang kuat. Setelah semua, IBM adalah perusahaan database terkemuka saat itu, dengan IMS dan DB2 sebagai produk unggulan mereka. Oracle itu masih terus menyempurnakan produk muda, untuk memahami jenis-jenis fitur dan fungsionalitas yang akan membuatnya produktif dan bermanfaat dalam dunia bisnis, dan upaya pembangunan di sistem Koch berkontribusi perbaikan itu. Beberapa fitur Oracle adalah hasil langsung dari permintaan yang kami buat Oracle pengembang, dan kita advokasi blak-blakan bias pengguna akhir dalam aplikasi desain dan penamaan Konvensi telah mempengaruhi generasi programmer yang belajar Oracle di toko kami atau membaca artikel yang kita diterbitkan. Semua ini intim keterlibatan dengan pengembangan dan penggunaan Oracle membawa kita ke awal dan tak tertandingi keahlian dengan produk dan kemampuannya. Karena aku selalu suka berbagi penemuan dan pengetahuan — untuk membantu mempersingkat waktu belajar yang diperlukan dengan teknologi baru dan ide-ide, dan menyelamatkan orang lain biaya membuat kesalahan yang sama saya lakukan-saya memutuskan untuk mengubah apa yang telah kita pelajari ke dalam sebuah buku. Oracle: Referensi lengkapnya dikandung pada tahun 1988 untuk menarik bersama semua perintah-perintah dasar dan teknik digunakan di seluruh lini produk Oracle, serta memberikan bimbingan padat di bagaimana untuk mengembangkan aplikasi menggunakan Oracle dan SQL. Bagian I dari buku ini bertujuan baik pengembang dan pengguna akhir, sehingga mereka bisa berbagi bahasa dan pemahaman selama proses pengembangan aplikasi umum: pengembang dan pengguna akhir bekerja berdampingan — sebuah konsep liar ketika buku ini pertama dikandung. Linda Allen, a respected literary agent in San Francisco, introduced me to Liz Fisher, then the editor at Osborne/McGraw-Hill. Liz liked the idea very much. Contracts were drawn, and the first edition was scheduled to be released in 1989. But a now-departed senior executive at McGraw-Hill heard of the project and instantly canceled its development, pronouncing that “Oracle is a flash in the pan. It is going nowhere.” A year later, when Oracle Corporation had again doubled in size and the senior executive was gone, the effort was restarted, and the first edition finally arrived in 1990. Almost immediately, it became the No. 1 book in its category, a position it has maintained for a decade. In July of 1990, I was hired by Oracle to run its Applications Division. I became senior vice president of the company and guided the division (with a lot of talented help) to worldwide success. While at Oracle, I also introduced Osborne/McGraw-Hill to Oracle senior management, and after opposition from an Oracle vice president who didn’t see any value in the idea (he’s no longer with Oracle), Oracle Press was born. Oracle Press is now the leading publisher of Oracle-based reference manuals in the world. In 1992, Bob Muller, a former developer at both Koch Systems and Oracle, took over responsibilities for technical updates to the book, as my duties at Oracle precluded any more than editorial review of changes. This produced Oracle7: The Complete Reference. This was Bob’s first published book, and he has since gone on to write several other popular books on development and database design. In 1994 I left Oracle to fulfill a long-held desire—full-time ministry—and today I’m the pastor of Church of the Resurrection (http://www.resurrection.org) in West Chicago, Illinois. I continue to write in publications as diverse as theWall Street Journal and Christianity Today, and I’ve recently published a book in England, The Country Parson’s Advice to His Parishioner, from Monarch Books. I also sit on the board of directors of Apropos, a leading call center applications company, but I no longer work in Oracle application development. Also in 1994, Kevin Loney, a highly respected independent Oracle consultant and author (http://www.kevinloney.com), took over the updating and rewriting responsibilities for the third edition of the book, and has continued ever since. He has contributed major new sections (such as the “Hitchhiker’s Guide”), and fully integrated new Oracle product features into all sections of the book. He has also integrated many readers’ comments into the structure and content of the book, making its current form the product of both its readers and its authors. Those efforts have allowed Oracle: The Complete Reference to stay at the top of its field and continue to be the single-most comprehensive guide to Oracle—still unmatched in range, content, and authority. I am a real fan of Kevin’s and am most impressed by his knowledge and thoroughness. Oracle: The Complete Reference is now available in eight languages, and is found on the desks of developers and Oracle product users all over the world. Not only has it been No. 1 in its category (with two editions out, it once was both No. 1 and No. 4), it has also been regularly in the top 100 of all books sold through Amazon.com. At one point it was the No. 7 best-selling book of all books sold in Brazil! Its reputation and enduring success are unparalleled in its marketplace. Like Oracle itself, the book has survived and prospered in spite of the recurring predictions of failure from many quarters. Perhaps this brief history can be an encouragement to others who face opposition but have a clear vision of what is needed in the years ahead. As Winston Churchill said, “Never give in, never give in, never give in—in nothing great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.”