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From the Editor
Confessions of a Collector
By Tom Haunert
Collecting data is a serious pursuit, and growing your data collection is part of the process.
I am a collector. I've collected a variety of things, from books to comic books to sports cards to stamps (only briefly) to Beatles memorabilia and more. I've collected a variety of things in a variety of shapes and sizes.
There is a pattern to every collection I amass. After I acquire the first couple of any type of collectible item, I strategize about how to store that type of item safely and in a structured, accessible way. Later I start looking for more data about what I have and don't have, and I evaluate the worth of what I have and the cost of what I "need."
As I collect, for example, comic books, I periodically sell or trade away some part of the collection to make room for new items. When I plan to sell or trade certain items, I relocate them so they're easier to remove from the collection.
I've learned that collecting requires a set of strategies and processes—tools, really—to keep a collection from becoming unknown things in unmanageable boxes. Working with Oracle Database features and technologies, I've recognized familiar strategies for collecting data, and I've seen and used Oracle tools for the serious data collector. Whether I'm collecting things in rows of boxes or information in rows of data, I know that collecting strategies change and grow with the rows.
Collections Grow
Databases collect a great deal of data and do so very quickly, which is good, because an analyst at Forrester Research predicts that the number of multiterabyte database sites—estimated at 2,000 now—will double in 18 months. In addition to planning for increased storage and increased workload, businesses about to enter the multiterabyte arena must also develop scalable management and tuning strategies.
Oracle is the database at many of these current multiterabyte sites. Read how Oracle products and technologies including Oracle Real Application Clusters, partitioning, materialized views, SQL Tuning Advisor, and Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control support multiterabyte databases in this issue's feature story on very large databases, "Put Some Muscle in Your Business" by David A. Kelly.
If you're planning a multiterabyte database or find yourself about to be responsible for one, see what analysts and Oracle customers say about partitioning: how it can improve performance and how it can help you plan for when it's time to winnow your data collection.
Expressly Installed
I've downloaded and installed Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE) beta release on a couple of machines. (No, I don't collect computers; I just use more than one.) The experience was exactly as Tom Kyte describes in this issue's column ("On Deduping and Ordering"): "Five minutes after you download it, it'll be installed and running."
I exercised some of the code in this issue's Developer and Technology section articles in Oracle Database XE. I have used Oracle Application Express (formerly Oracle HTML DB) on many occasions, so when I opened the Oracle Database XE home page and saw elements of the Oracle Application Express user interface (UI), I was able to jump right in and use familiar tools. I easily built most of the Oracle Application Express survey application described in Raj Mattamal's Browser-Based column ("Surveying Your Application Needs") in Oracle Database XE, diverging from the instructions in the few places where the current Oracle Application Express and Oracle Database XE UIs differ.
Who Am I?
My name is Tom Haunert, and I'm the new editor in chief of Oracle Magazine. After six years as editor in chief, Jeff Spicer has moved on to become publisher of Oracle Magazine. Many thanks to Jeff for his hard work and support.
Previously, as the technology editor for Oracle Magazine, I was responsible for acquiring (collecting, if you will) and editing articles and columns that appear in the magazine's Developer and Technology sections. As part of the editing process for Oracle Magazine, I've had the opportunity to exercise the example code in a wide variety of articles.
I've enjoyed working on articles about Oracle's technologies, and I've enjoyed exploring those technologies and seeing them in action. I look forward to bringing more exploration of more Oracle products and technologies to Oracle Magazine.
Tom Haunert, Editor in Chief
tom.haunert@oracle.com
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