In Expert One-on-One: Oracle Thomas Kyte expounds his philosophy of database application development based on the premise that successful development requires a sound knowledge of the database and its internal workings--that the database cannot be treated merely as a black box to and from which data is passed. Equally, that a development project lacking this knowledge will inevitably fail, particularly when attempts are made to scale the resultant application to large scale multiple concurrent use.

This is a big book packed with lots of Oracle insider knowledge including, among other topics, what the various Oracle server processes and files do, what's happening inside the database during a transaction, and the real meaning of the various options available in Oracle's DML and DDL SQL statements. The likely impact of design decisions on application behaviour and performance is also discussed, particularly where this relates to using, or not using, a database feature.

Expert One-on-One: Oracle is likely to be a valuable resource for both Oracle system designers and application developers looking to find out what's really going on inside the database, albeit one that is likely to be dipped into from time to time rather than read from cover to cover