Information of Value Before the Semester Starts

Class Policy The class policy statement include rules about grading, due dates, withdrawals, etc. Class Policy statement

Credit/NoCredit Info on the option of taking this course as a (Pass/Fail) class

The midterm and final exam are in-person exams to be held on the Phelan campus on Saturday March 10 and Saturday May 19, 2012
The class has no other required in-person meetings.

Software Versions: The easiest way to do the assignments for this class is to use the Oracle 11g system as provided by CCSF. When you are enrolled in the class you will have access to the Oracle software after the semester starts. You are allowed to do the assignments on a local installation of Oracle 11g- but I will not provide installation help with setting up Oracle.
You will need to download SQL Developer from Oracle; this is a free download and will be discussed in week 2 of the class

Textbook: Feuerstein; Oracle PL/SQL Programming- 5th Edition; O'Reilly; ISBN 978-0-596-51446-4;Feuerstein; Oracle PL/SQL Programming- 5th Edition; The list price is $70. (it discounts for about $40)

Email address: Your CCSF Email account Class email, including info on Insight and email I send you about adding from the Waitlist, is sent to the email account that CCSF displays on the class list. Check your email address from the Web4 page.

WaitList: This class has a waitlist set up. If the class is full when you try to enroll, add yourself to the waitlist. Waitlisted students will be added by the system if other students drop during the preregistration period. Refer to this Link for information on waitlists. I generally add all students on the waitlist. If you are on that waitlist, I will contact you at the start of the semester to see if you still want the class. Other requests for AddCodes will be handled after the waitlisted people.

NoShow Policy If you do not log into the Insight page for this class by Sunday Morning Jan 22 10:00 am, I will consider you a NoShow and may remove you from the class list and replace you with a student from the waitlist. Email me before that date if this is a problem and you want to continue in the class.

Insight Notes for my classes This is a document that explains the way my classes are set up on Insight; this is sufficient for most students to use Insight for this class. Remember that the class is not open to login until the semester starts. Orientation Notes

Plan: When are you going to do the work for this class?
Organization Ideas This is a 4 unit class so you need to set aside a period of time to work on the class material on at least two days during the week. This is not a "self-paced" class. There will be weekly readings and assignments will be due almost every week.

Software: Your software needs for CS 151A and CS 151P include a way to connect to the hills Unix server at CCSF in order to access Oracle and a way to upload and download files in order to run scripts for assignments.
Most of our students who use a windows based local computer use SSH Secure Shell which you can download from the CCSF site. This is a program that allows you to connect to a remote server a has a drag-and-drop FTE client for uploading and downloading files.
Students who use Mac computers usually use the built-in communication program to connect to the hills server. The ACRC lab recommends the use of the SFTP Fugu program to upload and download files. Information on Fugu can be obtained from the ACRC. Use the link here the ACRC handouts.

On the First Day or Two of Class, You Need to Do the Following

Log into the class Insight web site. Please click on this Orientation Link for info on Insight.

General Preparation for Classes

You can visit http://www.ccsf.edu/Departments/Distance_Education/students.htm to prepare for learning online.

Students who need academic accommodations should request them from the Disabled Students Programs and Services (DSPS) located in the Rosenberg Library,Room 323 on the Ocean Campus. Telephone: 415-452-5481 (V) 415-452-5451 (TDD). DSPS is the campus office responsible for verifying disability-related need for academic accommodations, assessing that need, and planning accommodations in cooperation with students and instructors as needed and consistent with course requirements.

General Information for CS 151P

This is a second semester course in the use of Oracle. This class focuses on the procedural approaches to data in Oracle databases.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Why Oracle PL/SQL?
A1: Oracle is a major player in the database field and the programming language most tuned to work with Oracle databases is PL/SQL.
A2: Pl/SQL is a well-developed programming language with most of the features you would expect to find in a programming language. You may be pleasantly surprised to learn about the programming techniques available with the Oracle DBMS.
You may also wish to learn a nonOracle language such as Java or VB for providing an application layer. That is not discussed in this class ( we have enough to cover without that) but for programming as close as you can to the database engine there is nothing like using the language built into the database engine.

Q: Why programming?
A: If you are going to develop Oracle solutions, you need to know how to use the available tools. For some tasks, non-procedural SQL is the best tool. For other tasks, being able to write your own stored procedures and functions using procedural programming code is the way to go. The programming approach lets you write triggers and handle transactions and errors which are necessary components of an application.

Q: What background do I need for this class?
A: The prerequisite or corequisite is CS 151A (Oracle SQL), but this prerequisite is not enforced at registration.
You need to have experience with using SQL to create tables, access data, and make changes to the data. If your only experience using a database is using QBE, where you fill in a grid to create queries, you will need to spend some time with the SQL language.
If you learned T-SQL or My-SQL that should be sufficient preparation.

Q: Which version of Oracle are we using?
A: Currently we are using Oracle 11G. You can use the installation of Oracle 11G on the CCSF server.