Preface

Who Should Read This Book

This book has been written for the following audiences:

• Management--You may have purchased Oracle8i for reasons other than Java development within the database. However, if you want to know more about Oracle8i Java features, see Oracle8iJava Developers Guide for a management perspective.

• Non-Java Developers--Oracle database programming consists of PL/SQL and other non-Java programming. For experienced PL/SQL developers who are not familiar with Java, a brief overview of Java and object-oriented concepts is discussed in the first part of Oracle8iJava Developers Guide. For more detailed information on Java, see "Java Information Resources" at the end of this Preface.

• Java Developers--Pure Java developers are used to a Java environment that follows the Sun Microsystem specification. However, when Java is combined in the database, both Java and database concepts merge. Thus, the Java environment within Oracle8i is expanded to include database concerns. The bulk of this book discusses the differences you need to understand to run Java in the database. The following outlines the two viewpoints that arise from this merge:
  • Java environment--Note that Oracle8i delivers an implementation that compiles with Java--any 100% pure Java code will work. Oracle8i JServer affects your Java development in the way that you manage your classes and the environment in which your classes exist. For example, the classes must be loaded into the database. In addition, there is a clearer separation of client and server in the Oracle8i model.

  • Database environment--You need tobe aware of database concepts for managing your Java objects. This book gives you a comprehensive view of how the two well-defined realms--the Oracle8i database and the Java environment--fit together. For example, when deciding on your security policies, you must consider both database security and Java security for a comprehensive security policy.

  If you are not familiar with JavaServer Pages, see "Oracle8i JavaServer Pages Developer's Guide".

Java Information Resources

The Oracle Java Tools Reference lists and describes all the commands used in managing the Oracle Servlet Engine.

The following table lists the sources of current information discussed in the Java programming documentation suite:

Location	Description
http://www.oracle.com/java	The latest offerings, updates, and news for Java within the Oracle8i database. This site contains Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), updated JDBC drivers, SQLJ reference implementations, and white papers that detail Java application development. In addition, you can download try-and-buy Java tools from this site.
http://java.sun.com/	The Sun Microsystem web site that is the central source for Java. This site contains Java products and information, such as tutorials, book recommendations, and the Java Developer's Kit (JDK). The JDK is located at http://java.sun.com/products
http://java.sun.com/docs/books/jls http://java.sun.com/docs/books/vmspec	The Oracle8i Java Server (JServer) is based on the Java Language specification(JLS) and the Java virtual machine (JVM) specification.
comp.lang.java.programmer comp.lang.java.databases	Internet newsgroups can be a valuable source of information on Java from other Java developers. We recommend that you monitor these two newsgroups. Note: Oracle monitors activity on some of these newsgroups and posts responses to Oracle-specific issues.

Your local or on-line bookstore has many useful Java references. You can find another listing of materials that are helpful to beginners, and that you can use as general references, in the "Oracle8i JavaServer Pages Developer's Guide".

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