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Tom Kyte

Thanks for the question, Stephen.

Asked: March 12, 2012 - 11:43 am UTC

Last updated: March 15, 2012 - 7:40 am UTC

Version: 11.2

Viewed 1000+ times

You Asked

Hi Tom, I am always your fan and would like to know about your approach in learning.

I have read you saying that you are very proficient in programming languages as well. Can you please tell us what are the programming languages that you are very good at and also did you learn them on your own interest or it was required for your work? And did knowing them helped you better in learning Oracle and if so in what way it helped you?

Also how do you approach learning a new technology or language say for example C or Java or even PL/SQL ?

Also Have you ever felt a desire to master any other RDBMS other than Oracle?

Thanks for your help and support to the oracle community....

Keep up the good work.

and Tom said...

My current strongest languages would be SQL, PL/SQL, and C.

Some I learned for work (Ada, PL/I for example), others I learned out of curiosity (Pascal, C for example).

I've been a hardcore Ada programmer at one point.

PL/I was my very first real language (for years), rock solid, some neat features.

I used to be called "SAS Master" at my job prior to Oracle ;)

I dabbled in C++ and Java - I would not call myself expert in either one - just enough to be dangerous.

There have been many other languages too - my favorite at one point was Rexx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REXX I still have fond memories of it, wrote a lot of utilities with it.

That is not a comprehensive list - but some of the hilights.

As far as databases go - I started with SQL/DS and DB2 on the mainframe. Moved to others such as Gupta SQLBase, Ingres, Informix, Sybase SQLServer to name a few. Oracle was my last one actually, I had to unlearn quite a few things I learned as I moved over to it.


Also how do you approach learning a new technology or language say for example C or Java or even PL/SQL ?


I prefer to learn these things by having a project of some sort to work on. I learn a little by reading, most of it by trying - working with others. I don't use classroom experience (but a seminar or tech talk is definitely a good thing) so much - mostly hands on. And I need something, a target, a goal, to be laid out. Just playing with it wouldn't do it - I need a deliverable (and a deadline :) I'm very much about deadlines, if I don't have one - don't expect to see anything!)



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learning new Oracle Exa* technologies

A reader, March 15, 2012 - 4:37 am UTC

Hi Tom,

what about Oracle technologies like Exadata, Exalytics, Exalogic. These are technologies that are not available for immediate learning on workstations.

Let's say you're interested in such a technology, but you're working for a company that is not going to use it in the near future. You decide to find a way to progress as a professional in this new area and will start looking for a more suitable to your desires company. Installations with such technologies are worth many thousands of $$$,$$$ and I don't see how such installation is going to be dedicated to a newcomer, who doesn't have previous experience with these specific technologies. In my opinion, junior positions for such type of work are rear.
It seems to me that there is a lot of luck - to be in the right place at the right time :)

I hope, you'll share your thoughts on the above.
Thank You
Tom Kyte
March 15, 2012 - 7:40 am UTC

Until you know a lot about Oracle on "any hardware", you are not going to be successful with Oracle on an engineered system (a piece of hardware).

If you had an exadata machine and didn't really know Oracle - you would be useless.

If you really know Oracle and get access to an exadata machine, you already know 99.9% of what you need to know.


Oracle on Exadata/Oracle Database Appliance isn't significantly different from the developer/DBA perspective. You need to understand that your IO bottleneck is gone - you don't "tune" the way you used to tune by trying to flip switches, create magic indexes and the like
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/issue-archive/2012/12-mar/o22asktom-1518271.html

but the core fundamentals are all necessary. And frankly - far too many people don't have them.

Get them and you'll be well positioned.
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