Today's Oracle gem of the day comes not from one of my books, but from Perl for Oracle DBAs, borrowed from a coworker. I'll have to add it to my ever-growing library soon, though! :)
This book apparently describes a toolkit called PDBA which, among other things, creates a repository of your data dictionary and other structures. Version control for Oracle! Sweet! I haven't poked into it much, yet, but the book website has PDBA for download. (Is O'Reilly's Oracle section in a folder on your Phoenix bookmarks bar? It is on mine, along with all the Oracle sample chapters, the new books page, the main O'Reilly page, and even the out of print books page.)
In related news, I can't stand it when people denigrate the U.S. Postal Service. My mailman risked frozen streets last week to deliver my next package from Bookpool, even getting out of his truck in the cold and walking across my icy sidewalk to my door. Risked his neck, if you ask me. I got free shipping from Bookpool for going USPS, and I'll bet UPS and FedEx weren't even running that day. As a libertarian, I don't think it's appropriate for the government to handle this service ... but it's one of the things they do well, and the USPS ought to be one of the last things to go!
But it was at one point in time. Some 200+ years ago, pre-Internet, pre-phone, pre-everything else, the US Mail was absolutely critical to the infrastructure of the country. Nowadays, sure, if the USPS disappeared, we'd route around it, but back then, it was as important as the highway system is to us today.
Re:USPS
ajtaylor on 2003-03-05T18:02:14
An excellent point Andy! I think that in some areas (like getting a letter to Grandma who isn't on the 'net) the USPS is still very important. While I might complain about stamp price increases, it's still the cheapest way to get a letter from point A to point B by a long shot. And it's a whole lot more reliable than mail delivery in other countries, so we should be grateful it's as good as it is. We should also thank competition for helping keep it that way.:-) Re:USPS
jdavidb on 2003-03-05T18:10:57
the USPS is still very important
I agree. I love the USPS. Like I said, great guys, they always get my mail there, and they risked their necks for me the other day.
While I might complain about stamp price increases
I don't, because of the very reason you mentioned. The postal service is a spectacular bargain! They are also very reliable in my experience, despite the fact that everyone says otherwise.
We should also thank competition for helping keep it that way.
My dad thinks competition made it worse. Me, I don't know. It works fine for me.
:) Re:USPS
belg4mit on 2003-03-05T20:45:37
Ever sent mail in Europe?
I complain about stamp prices too, but that's
because I'm a crotchety young man:-P
(Below is based on my experiences in BE in 1995)
Even in heavily socialized western Europe were
state industry is still relatively common postage
is outrageous, a letter cost over $1 to send.Re:USPS
jdavidb on 2003-03-05T18:08:30
Agreed. A critical point in my libertarian leaning thoughts is that we're at a point that demonstrates alternate possibilities more than ever before. That's why I don't like us to be locked into thinking "It has to be this way."
Re:USPS
petdance on 2003-03-05T18:13:45
One point I forgot: It's that importance of the mail that makes the USPS so hallowed in the legal system. Go tamper with a UPS drop box, and with a USPS mailbox, and see which one is a federal felony. Again, it gets back to preserving this (at one time) vital infrastructure.
I've done the exact same thing with DDL::Oracle. Versioning the database structures to make sure nothing goes out of sync as well as quick and dirty plain text exports.. Worth checking out, if you're into that sort of thing..
The author, Richard Sutherland, was even good enough to add materialized view support when I asked
Re:PDBA..
jdavidb on 2003-03-06T16:31:10
I've never noticed DDL::Oracle before.
You just revolutionized my job!
Thank you!
