As Published In July/August 2005

Web Apps, Workbench, and Wine
By Blair Campbell

Three peers on Oracle JDeveloper, Oracle Migration Workbench, and the joys of wine tasting

Tareq Shaheen

Peer Specs Company: Simtics, a software development company with a focus on mobile enterprise applications Job Title/Description: Technical team leader, focused on Java/J2EE application development Location: Amman, Jordan Length of Time Using Oracle Products: Eight years

Tell us about the current state of the IT industry in Jordan. Jordan has really become an IT knowledgebase in the Middle East. The local IT market is small, so most Jordanian companies are working on projects outsourced from regional and U.S. companies, which benefit from lower costs and excellent IT skills. What distinguishes the IT industry here is how quickly new technologies are adopted—we're always up to date.

What's your favorite tool or technique on the job? Oracle JDeveloper 10g is my current favorite. It has many features, including Visual Editor and Struts integration, that make it a comprehensive Java IDE. My favorite feature is the ability to design, develop, and debug Web applications completely within Oracle JDeveloper.

What advice do you have about how to get into Web and database development? My advice pertains to medium- and large-scale J2EE projects. Even with n-tier development where a database is mostly a data store, a good database and a good database design are key to the success of a project. Using an object-relational mapping tool is a great plus, because it will alleviate much of the routine SQL coding, saving time for concentrating on tuning the critical parts of an application.

Scott Revelle

Peer Specs Company: NSB Group, a provider of IT solutions for retailers of apparel, footwear, and specialty merchandise Job Title/Description: Technical consultant, guiding clients through implementations and upgrades of NSB's Sales Audit software Location: Montreal, Canada Length of Time Using Oracle Products: Five years

If you could add a feature to Oracle Database, what would it be? The ability to identify which data values in a table were derived from a sequence.

Tell us about your recent project using the Oracle Migration Workbench. One of our clients wanted to migrate our application from a Sybase platform to Oracle. I suggested we use the Oracle Migration Workbench, which was exactly what the company's DBA had in mind. Neither of us had used it before, so we weren't sure if it would be able to move the data quickly and reliably. As it turned out, Oracle Migration Workbench was perfect. It really facilitated the project, and we finished ahead of time and under budget.

How do you use the internet today? Being a consultant, I tend to work in many different environments. Because you can't be an expert in everything, using the internet is the best way to reach those who are experts. Google searches and Oracle MetaLink have saved me more times than I can count.

Giovanni Cuccu

Peer Specs Company: Noematica, part of the DNGroup, which is one of the major Italian companies working in the healthcare sector Job Title/Description: Consultant, mainly responsible for building Oracle- and Java-based applications and solving Oracle DBA problems Location: Bologna, Italy Length of Time Using Oracle Products: Seven years

How did you get started in IT? I started at age 16, doing my math homework on an Apple clone. Later, after graduating from college, I wrote my first Visual Basic programs. I gradually moved to solving Oracle database problems, until I became sort of the "Oracle man" within my company. Now my main tasks are Java programming (on the server side), solving Oracle performance problems, and handling all the other Oracle-related needs of the company.

Which new features of Oracle Database 10g are you finding most valuable? I find all the new RMAN features, such as block change tracking and backup-set compression, particularly compelling. I also think that HTML DB is one of the greatest additions to the Oracle database, because of the power and simplicity with which it builds database applications.

What's your favorite thing to do that doesn't involve work? Wine tasting, absolutely. I've taken the first two courses (of three required) to become a sommelier, and I'm about to take the last one.