Learning is not a spectator sport

I have a large partitioned table called TXN and I want to find the most recent transaction recorded, where the transaction timestamp column (TXN_TIMESTAMP) is the partition key.  This table also happens to be sub-partitioned as well, but that’s not particular important for this example: So we look at the execution plan and at first Read more

Recently when trying to drop a user, I got an error that seemed unrelated to the act of dropping the user. SQL> drop user demo cascade; drop user demo cascade * ERROR at line 1: ORA-29972: user does not have privilege to change/ create registration It turns out, that this user account was being used Read more

RIP. A fine Oracle man. Read more

This is a bug encountered at a client site, and the test script was carefully prepared by Mark Hoxey (http://markhoxey.wordpress.com/) but it just shows how seemingly independent features in Oracle sometimes collide. Some of the elements of the script have been omitted for brevity, but if you’d like a copy, drop me a line. We Read more

21 kilometers …. all up hill.  Just up…and up….and up All on a bicycle Read more

I did three talks for the tasmanian user group.  Its a small user group, but a credit to the committee that they keep it strong, and keep it going year after year.  It was a pleasure to go there. And if you’re reading this, I hope a) you’re a member of your local user group Read more

I’ll be doing a talk on Flashback on Feb 29.  Details below – hope to see you there.   Where: Oracle Australia: Level 2, 66 Kings Park Road, West Perth When: Wednesday, February 29, 2012. Breakfast starts 7:30am, and the talk from 8-9am RSVP: By RSVP Sunday 26th February 5pm by emailing vicepresident.wa@ausoug.org.au Cost: Free Read more

I’m in Hobart Tasmania for a half day on Monday (Feb 29).  If you’re in town, please drop in and say Hi – should be a fun morning Here is the agenda 09:00 – 09:15 am General introduction 09:15 – 10:15 am Presentation – Diary of an 11.2 upgrade 10:15 – 10:30 am Morning tea Read more

Its been a long hard painful road…. But finally, we no longer have to ensure that Flash-based mistake that was unleased onto the world a few years back I freely admit that I’ve been a scathing critic of the MOS flash interface, both on newsgroups and internally via feedback to the support team themselves, and Read more

Just a short note to say thank you to anyone that took the time to score, rate and comment on my presentations at the UKOUG this year.  Whether you loved my talks, or hated my talks, I’m always flattered by anyone that takes the time to give the feedback that all speakers desire in order Read more

I recently came across an example where someone wanted to update primary keys with an INSTEAD-OF trigger (on a view). It can be done, but I wanted to demonstrate that you need to take extreme care, because you can get some problems you might not have forseen. If you choose to allow primary key updates, Read more

Today was a bumper day for content. Day 3 started with Doug Burns taking the p*ss out my presentation style…The cheek of the man !   All in good fun, although Doug is such a sensitive soul, the temptation to mess with him and claim offense was very very high.  He gave a great talk Read more