Acknowledgments

We are indebted to a great many people who have contributed in the development and production of this book. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Jonathan Gennick, the editor of the book. Jonathan's vision for this book, close attention to details, and exceptional editing skills are the reasons this book is here today.

Our sincere thanks to our technical reviewers: Diana Lorentz, Jason Bucata, Trudy Pelzer, and Peter Linsley, who generously gave their valuable time to read and comment on a draft copy of this book. Their contributions have greatly improved its accuracy, readability, and value.

This book certainly would not have been possible without a lot of hard work and support from the skillful staff at O'Reilly, including Ellie Volckhausen and Emma Colby, the cover designers; David Futato, the interior designer; Julie Hawks, who converted the files; Matt Hutchinson, the production editor; Rob Romano and Jessamyn Read, the illustrators; and Sarah Sherman, Marlowe Shaeffer, and Claire Cloutier, who provided quality control.

From Sanjay

I would like to thank my coauthor Alan and my coauthor/editor Jonathan Gennick for constant cooperation and smooth execution during the first as well as the second edition of this book.

My adventure with Oracle's database started in the Tribology Workbench project at Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, India. Sincere thanks to my co-workers in the Tribology Workbench project for all the experiments and explorations we did during our learning days with Oracle. Ever since, Oracle database technology has become a way of life for me.

Special thanks the readers of the first edition whose feedback, comments, questions, and suggestions helped improve the second edition of the book. Sincere thanks to my current and previous co-workers for their support and encouragement.

Last, but not the least, I thank my wife, Sudipti, for her support, understanding, and constant encouragement.

From Alan

I would like to thank my coauthor Sanjay and my coauthor/editor Jonathan Gennick for helping to make the second edition of this book a reality. I would also like to thank the many readers of our first edition who pointed out errors, asked questions, and made suggestions; with your help, our second edition is a much better book.

Most of all, I would like to thank my wife, Nancy, for her support, patience, and encouragement, and my daughters, Michelle and Nicole, for their love and inspiration.