Oracle PL/SQL Performance Tuning Tips & Techniques

Highly recommend. All oracle developers should review this no matter what their expert level is ...

Not a good book for beginners.

This (relatively) thin book had been sitting on my desk unread, taunting me since it arrived this summer. Now the leaves have turned, the book has been read, and I can move it to my bookshelf as it certainly deserves a spot next to my collection of Steven Feuerstein's classic PL/SQL works. Let's start with what Oracle PL/SQL Performance Tuning Tips & Techniques is not. This book is not a step-by-step primer on how to tune PL/SQL. It does not provide a guide for analyzing trace output and diagnosing the cause of wait events in the database. Instead, authors Rosenblum and Dorsey start by describing the many vectors by which performance problems can arise in modern multi-tiered architectures. They then describe tools and techniques that can be applied to instrument code and measure performance. Once this groundwork has been laid, they proceed in a most interesting direction. Rather than chapter after chapter of tried-and-true techniques for making incremental improvements to performance based on the results of timed executions and traces, the reader instead finds, as the subtitle promises, "Best Practices for Improving Overall Speed, Reliability and Security". The authors are both Oracle ACEs with years of experience developing applications using a "thick database" paradigm. Most of the book describes the techniques that they have developed to allow the database to efficiently do the heavy lifting, minimizing the work that needs to be done by the application server or client. These techniques support the development of efficient, scalable applications, which do most of the work on the most powerful component of the multi-tier architecture, the database server. The book includes many techniques that I've used myself and quite a few that were new to me. Each technique includes an explanation as to why it improves efficiency, with evidence from traces that quantify the improvement. There are also several techniques that rely on new features in Oracle 12 that I will be looking forward to trying out in my own code.If you're looking for an introduction to PL/SQL, PL/SQL For Dummies, an introductory volume by the same authors, or Feuerstein's Oracle PL/SQL Programming are better places to start. If you're an experienced PL/SQL developer looking for ways to get the most out of your code, Oracle PL/SQL Performance Tuning Tips & Techniques is a must read.Michael Olin, PresidentNew York Oracle Users Group, Inc.

"Oracle PL/SQL Performance Tuning Tips & Techniques" by Michael Rosenblum and Dr. Paul Dorsey is a book you should read soon. A quote from Oracle's Bryn Llwellyn in the book's forward says it all "Every professional PL/SQL programmer should study this book and act upon its teachings."Misha and Paul take the scientific route to performance, providing readers the how-and-why of effective performance. The first chapter sets the tone showing how performance is an aggregate typically of nine-steps from execution of code on the client side, through middleware, to server, and back again to the client. Learn how PL/SQL works from two of the best whose shared stories of actual issues underline the importance of performance planning and thinking.Oracle database professionals rely upon PL/SQL to accomplish many important tasks. This book presents numerous opportunities to improve PL/SQL performance offering more than just code suggestions. Perhaps most importantly, each unit steps the reader through how to test and prove if an actual improvement has been made. Code examples include explanations of how to test results so that you know the impact of your actions. For each topic highlighted, the authors provide discussions of the tradeoffs being made; for instance, did CPU improve at the expense of I/O or vice-versa? Performance-related Oracle tools and instrumentation are explained and demonstrated clearly to illustrate and confirm results.You can read this book straight through as I did, or, pick a specific topic like caching and skip around. However you choose to read this book you're sure to learn lots about PL/SQL performance and how you can improve your systems.

Misha and Dr. Dorsey follow a very effective pattern in this manual: Each topic is introduced and all of the options are laid out, then they illustrate the performance impacts of those varfious options. They share the code for each example so that we can use to prove the performance differences for ourselves to our peers.The discussion and analysis is not a simple 'do it this way or your performance will really suck' but is generously supported by their own experiences. You couldn't ask for two more experienced authors.The book covers provides historical perspectives on a number of their approaches. For instance, limitations in earlier releases affect many of our assumptions about performance tuning. They point out where the old practices/prejudices came from and roll it forward to the functionality available in today's 11g and 12c releases.DBAs will benefit from the insights here, particularly when doing performing tuning. Astute developers will find the variety of examples and the strength of their arguments very helpful in writing their own code and affecting the work of their peers.Finally, the friendly tone of the text (likely due to Arup Nanda's editing) makes it pleasant to read and easy to digest even of you don't use PL/SQL a lot.- Ray Smith

Bryn Llewellyn's insightful forward ends with "Every professional PL/SQL programmer should study this book and act upon its teachings." After reading this book, cover to cover, I heartily agree. I am a developer; this book has given me insights into the inner workings of PL/SQL which will make me more effective when I write PL/SQL code. In addition, it has given me knowledge and vocabulary that will help me communicate more effectively with the DBAs on my team. This book is a five star addition to my professional library.