Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Express Edition Available

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Express Edition (Oracle Database XE) final version is available. It's "an entry-level, small-footprint database based on the Oracle Database 11g Release 2 code base. It's free to develop, deploy, and distribute; fast to download; and simple to administer." Download Documentation Do not forget to check the Open Bugs and Known Issues section.

Oracle Magazine September - October 2011

HTML version
Flash version

TIOBE Programming Community Index for August 2011

PL/SQL is again in the 22nd place TIOBE Index (August 2011).
It's was in 21st last month.

First public Beta version of SQL Navigator 6.6

SQL Navigator 6.6 Beta build 2220 (expires 31 Oct 2011) is now available! See the full announcement.

Oracle APEX 4.1 released and it's documentation

Oracle Application Express 4.1 was released.


"This latest Oracle Application Express release is focused on enhancing existing
functionality and adds data upload capabilities."
- Oracle Press Release

Oracle Application Express 4.1 Documentation Library is also available.

Oracle Database 11g Security and Compliance Solutions Free Webseminar

28 of July 2011 - Free Webseminar "Oracle Database 11g Security and Compliance Solutions" by Tom Kyte

As the amount of digital data within organizations continues to grow at unprecedented rates, so does the value of that data and the challenges of safeguarding that data. Two thirds of sensitive and regulated data resides in databases, yet most IT Security programs fail to address database security and the primary sources of threats that databases face today: insecure applications and privileged users.

Register here

O ícone de gravar

Eu não tinha ainda pensado nisto: o ícone para "gravar" ("salvar" em português do Brasil) é na grande maioria das aplicações um desenho de uma diskete floppy e, um grande número de potenciais utilizadores dessas aplicações numa viram uma diskette (quanto mais usaram uma :-) ) pelo que, esse ícone não se torna "óbvio". Alterar para um CD ou DVD também não será uma boa opção :-).
Há uns meses atrás o meu amigo Vítor postou sobre a importância dos ícones e da escolha das suas cores. Os ícones devem ser suficientemente intuitivos (não crípticos) e distintos nas aplicações de grande acesso.
Já agora, lembrei-me do ícone usado muitas vezes para agenda...

VirtualBox 4.1 released

Released on the 19th VirtualBox 4.1 has several new features like VM clones, enhanced wizard for creating new virtual disks, Windows Aero support, increased capability for very large hosts,...

For any developer interested in trying Oracle DB there are several appliances (pre-built images) available.
Also available are some other appliances for several free and/or open-source Operating Systems.

QuestTV

Quest Software site has recently make available a new section in its website called QuestTV with several videos about its services and products. Some of these videos are also available in Quest Software Channel in YouTube.

Most interesting videos for PL/SQL developers:

Using Toad for Oracle with Oracle Instant Client (this series is helpful even for people that do not use TOAD but want to install and configure Oracle Instant Client.

• Using Oracle Instant Client
  
• Configuring a TSNAMES file for Oracle Instant Client
  
• Removing Oracle Instant Client
  

• Using SQL Tracker available with TOAD or SQL Navigator
  

Steven Feuerstein (renowned PL/SQL expert :-)) videos:

• Common Mistakes in Oracle PL/ SQL Programming
  
• PL/SQL Best Practices
  
• Practical Best PL/SQL 1- Overall perspectives on writing software
  
• Practical Best PL/SQL 2- Establish a foundation of shared code for team development
  
• Practical Best PL/SQL 2A- Applying coding standards and naming
  
• Practical Best PL/SQL 2B - SPODify your code - aim for a Single Point of Definition
  
• Practical Best PL/SQL 2C- Manage exceptions with shared utility
  
• Practical Best PL/SQL 2D- Break your addiction to SQL - Part 1
  
• The Path to Unit Testing Happiness
  
• Code Tester Version 2 new features

About Spotlight on Oracle (a tool normally used by DBA's but also by some Developers :-) )

• Introduction
  
• About Spotlight Bundles
  
• Spotlight Basics
  
• SQL Optimization
  
• Use Cases
  

Firefox: (...)unsupported form of compression

Using Firefox 5.0 I noticed that in a webpage some javascript was not running.

Using Firebug I noticed that the call to related .js file was returning the following error:

"The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression"

Because the page (and javascript) was working in other browsers I tried the "force-refresh" ("do not use cache") and it fixed the problem! It looks like the cache was corrupted somehow.

Now I know!

BTW: I'm thinking in switching to chrome as my default browser. Any thoughts?