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The point of a database is to store and retrieve data. These basic
utilizations of a database are essentially application specific. Your
not generally gonna interact with your database by firing up
SQL*Plus every time you need to get a phone number from your address
book.
Oracle provides a wide variety of diffrent methods of interacting with the
database. There is obviously SQL*Plus for traditional SQL interaction
via CLI. We can also use PL/SQL for scripting purposes.
PERL can be used via the DBI/DBD interfaces. There is a C
API called the OCI (Oracle Call Interface) which is used by most Oracle tools.
There is a C++ interface called OCCI (Oracle C++ Call Interface). Plus
there is a full compliment of Java, .Net, OLE, blah blah blah interfaces
if your into that sorta thing. Your C and C++ apps can also utilize
Pro*C and Pro*C++ precompilers for embedding SQL and PL/SQL in your code.
Lets take a look at some of the interfaces. We've already used
SQL*Plus in the last chapter so we'll skip that one.
You can find documentation on these interfaces in the Oracle Documentation Library,
where you should particularly have a look at
Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals to get started:
http://download-west.oracle.com/docs/cd/B14117_01/nav/portal_5.htm
Subsections
Next: SQL
Up: The Cuddletech SAs Guide
Previous: Troubleshooting TNS
Contents
2005-02-10