31Jul So, what’s this Oracle thing then?

First, some background info. I studied The National Diploma in Business Computing ages ago but started work before I completed it. A big mistake on my part as it turns out that pretty much every job you go for these days wants to see some evidence of the ability to complete studies, projects … anything that demonstrates commitment really.

Before I continue I’ll just say that this article is a bit of a brain dump. It’s as much for me as it is for anyone else as I find it easier to remember stuff if I write something about it. If you get something out of this article, cool. Please keep in mind that until I started this paper I could spell Oracle but that was about it … apologies to any Oracle gurus out there who think my ramblings are a waste of time.
Recently I looked into how much of my Diploma I had to go before it was finished (thanks Annie! :)). Up until then I thought I had maybe 5 or 6 papers to do but I found that I only had 2! The first paper, 157.221 (Information Systems Analysis), is a pre-requisite for 157.223 (Information Systems Design). 157.221 was already underway so I was a bit gutted as I thought I wouldn’t be able to complete the necessary papers in time (157.223 is being phased out at the end of 2007).

So anyway, I did some more digging and the Information Systems staff at Massey University of Wellington agreed to grant me the right to study 157.223 without having completed 157.221. This was after an interview with two of the Information Systems staff members to assess my ability to complete 157.223 without studying the material in 157.221. Sweet!

So now that the background is out of the way, what’s this Oracle thing then?

Ok, I’m not really going to harp on about what Oracle is other than to say it’s currently one of best known database systems around. The 157.223 course concentrates on using Oracle to teach the concepts of database design and implementation (Oracle-style of course).

So far we’ve only had 1 lab session on Oracle but it’s pretty cool … HUGE, but cool. The Oracle people have been kind enough to give anyone the right to download and install Oracle 10g, the previous version of Oracle Database (the latest is Oracle 11g). The only requirement is that you don’t use the downloaded software for commercial purposes.

In the first lab session we hacked about with Oracle Designer, the tool that supplies utilities that allow you to start from no more than an idea and work your way towards a fully-functional database system. The recommended steps of database design are all covered by the Oracle Designer utilities. In other words you can get the GUI tool to create, amongst other things, your ER diagrams and table structures, both obviously critical parts of the final design. It seems to me that even if you’ve had very little experience with database design you could probably grab Oracle 10g and throw together a fully-functioning system pretty quickly … yes you’ll need to read the manuals but that shouldn’t be a problem for anyone wanting to do it properly.

I’m typing this during what is supposed to be Lab #2 but unfortunately that isn’t happening due to a “glitch in The Matrix” … in other words the IT Services staff here have mucked something up and Oracle isn’t installed on our lab machines anymore. Damn. Interestingly they use Altiris Deployment Server, a product I’ve had reasonably extensive experience with. In the time they spent finding out that things were broken they probably could’ve got Oracle installed on all the lab machines … maybe they should’ve asked me. Just kidding.
Anyway, where was I. Oh yeah, Oracle. We’ve also spent some time using the Database Design Transformer, a tool that can be used to create your database’s initial, first-cut design from the analysis data model - a representation of the business’s information needs. The result of this process is to, for example, describe basic transformation rules and predict the resulting transformations.

After we had our first-cut design sorted out we then had to use the Design Editor to refine that design even further. The Design Editor is described in our text as “the primary Oracle Designer tool for design and build tasks.” So far I’d agree … hehe.

In the lab scheduled for today we were supposed to do a whole load more with refinement of our design but as mentioned earlier there’s no Oracle around for me to use right now so I’ll have to skip writing about that … doh. Maybe next week Oracle will be reinstalled and I can actually write something interesting.

Bye!